Bohemians chief commercial officer Daniel Lambert has said that boycotting the Nations League ties against Israel is "the right thing to do".
At yesterday's Nations League draw in Belgium, the Republic of Ireland were drawn in the same League B group as Israel, alongside Austria and Kosovo.
Last November, the FAI voted to submit a motion to UEFA to ban Israel from its European club and international competitions. However, FAI president Paul Cooke insisted at the time that Ireland would play Israel if drawn against them in a UEFA competition. A statement released by the FAI immediately after the draw reiterated that stance.
In the list of fixtures released by UEFA this morning, it was confirmed that Ireland would play Israel away from home on 27 September and at home on 4 October.
Lambert - whose club Bohemians proposed the motion to ban Israel at the FAI General Assembly - says that it is unfair that the FAI was being put in this position, but nonetheless argued that boycotting the fixture was the correct course of action.
"I think the first point is that UEFA must be called on to implement their own rules," Lambert said on RTÉ's Morning Ireland.
"It's really unfair that the FAI are put in this position. That the players, the fans, are put in a position where they're pitted against a team that's already in breach of a statute where the penalty is suspension and expulsion.
"Do I think that UEFA will change their course? Absolutely not. They don't seem to be willing to.
"As we saw with the Dunnes Stores workers and Mary Manning, there's an opportunity here for Ireland.
"To do the right thing and to show other nations and show our young people that Ireland won't be complicit - and not play them.
"I think it's [boycotting the fixtures] the right thing to do. I don't think anyone could say it isn't the right thing to do.
"That's a very tough decision for the FAI. Obviously, it has financial implications.
"But I don't think, as the whole world accepts blatant breaches of international law and accepts the violation of the most important statutes of international bodies, that we should go along with that and make that the norm."
The Bohemians motion in October proposing Israel's expulsion cited the breach of two UEFA statutes, with Lambert citing the existence of Israeli-affiliated football clubs playing in West Bank and the Israeli association's failure to implement an effective anti-racism policy.
"Firstly, probably the most important point is that Israel has seven teams who play in occupied territories.
"It's an indisputable fact. It's not my opinion. It's not based on any subjectivity.
"Second was their failure to implement any effective anti-racism policy.
"There was a sub-part to that which also called on them to publish clear criteria for suspension and expulsion.
"As we know, Russia was expelled four days after the Ukranian-Russian conflict [commenced in February 2022] and there was no clear documentation was how to occur. I actually agree with the expulsion of Russia.
"We put forward the vote and there was 93% in favour. It's rare to get that level of a majority in any vote, let alone an organisation where there's competing interests.
"The statute book clearly states you cannot have teams playing in occupied lands. It exists for a really, really good reason.
"And that indisputable fact has been ignored and it's been wilfully ignored by UEFA. It's inexplicable that one nation could breach that statute with no penalty and everybody else must comply with it.
"And the penalty is already outlined anyway for statute suspension and expulsion."
The Bohemians commercial officer said in his view there was little prospect of Ireland's designated home fixture on 4 October being held in Dublin.
A September 2024 Nations League game between Belgium and Israel was held in Hungary after several Belgian cities refused to host the fixture due to security concerns.
"I'd say it's almost certainly what's going to happen here. I can't see how that game could be played in Dublin," said Lambert.
The Irish Government has said that the decision on whether to fulfil such fixtures will be left in the hands of international sporting bodies.
"I think they've said since that it's a decision for national governing bodies and I understand that," said Lambert.
"I think we need to be able to say what the Israeli government and the IDF are doing is so wrong that someone needs to stand up.
"And also to say to UEFA, we're not going to fulfil a fixture here because you have failed to implement your own rulebook."
Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1's Today with David McCullagh, Social Democrats TD and member of the Oireachtas sports committee Sinead Gibney said that the most important voice she wished to hear from was the players, citing the experience of the Irish women's basketball team, who have twice been drawn against Israel since the war in Gaza began.
"What we saw play out with Basketball Ireland, the experience of the team was really quite difficult particularly with the IDF standing around one of the fixtures with machine guns," said Gibney.
"Obviously, the scale here is very different with a soccer fixture like this. UEFA should be excluding Israel, there's just no question. But they haven't.
"The FAI should absolutely be applauded for doing what they did last year. But we have to look at how vociferously they're putting this. We have to look at how we can interact with the different governing bodies that are in the same pool."
On the same programme, Fianna Fáil TD and fellow sports committee member Padraig O'Sullivan admitted his "heart sank" when the draw was made.
"As of right now, the FAI have made their statement, they've said they're going to be fulfilling the fixture at this point," O'Sullivan said.
"They've been put in a very difficult position by UEFA not adopting a stronger position in the round.
"The voice of the Garda commissioner is going to be very important in all this. There are going to be massive security implications. You could argue there are going to be as many protesters outside the stadium as there are inside."
