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Wife of Former Maccabi Tel Aviv Manager Says Her Family Isn’t Safe Living in Ireland Because of His Ties to Israel
Robbie Keane during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Leeds United at the London Stadium, London, England on 21 May 2023. Photo: IMAGO/Pro Sports Images via Reuters Connect
Claudine Keane, wife of former Irish soccer player and previous Maccabi Tel Aviv manager Robbie Keane, opened up on Wednesday in a series of posts on X about feeling unsafe living in Ireland with her family and the harassment her husband has received for formerly leading an Israeli soccer team.
Robbie, Ireland’s record goalscorer Robbie Kean, resigned as manager of Maccabi Tel Aviv in June after leading the club for only a year. He helped the team win the Israeli club title as well as the qualifying round of the UEFA Conference League. “The club agreed to Robbie Keane’s request not to activate the extension of his contract,” Maccabi Tel Aviv said at the time.
Robbie was criticized by anti-Israel supporters in Ireland for staying on with the Israeli team following the start of Israel’s war with Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip – a war that was launched in response to the Hamas-led deadly terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Robbie recently faced intense backlash again for his ties to Israel when he was invited earlier this week to present caps to soccer players at an international training camp for Ireland’s national team. Critics in Ireland claimed Robbie is “a disgrace to the country and happy to support an apartheid state,” accused him of taking “blood money to work for genociders” in Israel and was described as a “Zionist rat.”
The Keane family is now living in Dublin since Robbie left Maccabi Tel Aviv. In a number of lengthy posts on X, Claudine said that since her family has moved to Ireland, “I feel extremely uncomfortable and sometimes intimidated by some messages again from a small group that are hurtful, threatening and dangerous.”
“They not only put genuinely our safety and wellbeing as a family at risk they are using a sportsperson as a political pawn and in doing so inciting hated by making absolutely outrageous accusations,” she added. “I always felt safe in Ireland until now. I always wanted to move home being my kids up here and enjoy the Ireland that both me and my husband love. They are taking every bit of enjoyment and safety away from me and my family.”
The abuse targeting Robbie comes after Maccabi Tel Aviv fans faced violent antisemitic attacks in Amsterdam last week, in what appeared to be a coordinated attack following a match between the Israeli team and their Dutch rivals Ajax. Israeli fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv who were visiting Amsterdam to watch the game were run over by cars, beaten, chased with knives and sticks and tormented by anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups of men, some of whom forced their victims to say “Free Palestine” in order to be spared from abuse.
Also last week, the Irish Parliament passed a non-binding motion that accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Robbie faced intense condemnation from pro-Palestinian activists for not resigning as manager of Maccabi Tel Aviv when the war broke out. However, Claudine insisted on X: “We love our country, we are not politician’s we have never done any wrong.” She also revealed that Robbie resigned as manager of Maccabi Tel Aviv for the safety of his family.
She said her husband “resigned from a job he loved and did well to protect us his family in Ireland & Because none of us signed up to this situation that happened months into his role, it was a nightmare!” She also called for the hatred to end against her husband said, “Please stop this absolute witch hunt … We all want peace!!”
“It seems to be trendy in media in Ireland to absolutely try to assassinate my husbands character very maliciously,” she added, saying that the “absolute bias, malice and defamation over the years it’s nothing short of a disgrace.”
The post Wife of Former Maccabi Tel Aviv Manager Says Her Family Isn’t Safe Living in Ireland Because of His Ties to Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.