Claudine Keane defends husband Robbie from ‘bullies’ after his Israeli club win league

The former Premier League and Ireland star has been enjoying league title victory in his first season as a manager after his side were crowned champions of Israel.

After Keane's side secured a 3-0 victory over Hapoel Beer Sheva on Saturday evening, Claudine applauded her husband’s achievements.

However, she later took to social media to slam the “insecure people (who) are the ones that bully on social media”.

“They panic when you call them out,” she posted on ‘X’. “I learnt a long time ago that fake profiles and insecure people are (the) ones that bully on social media.

“It honestly does not bother me. I’m here in Ireland, my kids and I are allowed to appreciate my/their dad’s achievements.”

Earlier she had posted a “thank you to all for support”, saying she was “so proud of Rob’s achievements, in what has been a difficult year for everyone, to win two trophies, top the club’s European record by getting to final 16, a championship qualification in his first year”.

She added: “Goodnight all, it’s been interesting on here. But genuinely thank you for the phone calls, emails, text msgs, tweets, Dms of support.

“I forget sometimes the amount of people who know this move was not politically driven and can appreciate how well he’s done from me and mine! Thanks x.”

This is not the first time Claudine has been forced to defend her husband since his appointment last summer.

In October Claudine hit back at a commenter who criticised her for condemning the “devastating scenes" in Israel when Palestinian militant groups led by Hamas launched an attack across the Gaza strip.

Taking to Instagram, Claudine had expressed her thoughts on the violence by sharing an image reading: “More Jews were murdered on October 7, 2023 than on any other single day since the Holocaust.”

The graphic was accompanied by a single yellow candle.

Weighing in on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, she condemned Hamas' kidnapping of civilians as well as the attacks on an Israeli music festival.

She wrote: “Absolutely devastating scenes. To all the lovely friends I’ve met, to the man who runs the coffee shop my husband has his coffee every morning who lost his son, to the people we know whose kids were at the music festival who were attacked barbarically, to the Holocaust survivors that were kidnapped and brought to Gaza.

“To the woman who was killed and raped and paraded naked, we see you. The world sees you and the world is disgusted by what it sees.

“To the families who have lost loved ones, I pray for you. I pray for innocent civilians on both sides. No innocent people should be killed.

“This attack can never be accepted. It was barbaric and innocent civilians were the target. My prayers are the hostages are released without harm. I pray for peace for all.”

However, some of her followers took the post to mean that she was showing solidarity with Israel.

She shared a response from one person, who called her “a f*****g toilet and said, “Go read a history book. The same thing happened in Ireland for 800 years and when we fought back, we were called terrorists.”

They also accused her of only sharing the statement because of her husband’s association with Maccabi Tel Aviv.

In a now-deleted Instagram story, Claudine replied: “Here we go, waiting for this. Good morning, Gerard. It has nothing to do with Robbie’s job, I’m allowed to have an opinion.

“I don’t believe anyone that I know in Ireland would like to be compared to Hamas, well not the informed educated ones anyway. Have a nice day.”

In November of that year, Robbie had declined to talk politics ahead of his Israeli side resuming action in European competition.

Keane and his assistant manager, compatriot Rory Delap, had fled Tel Aviv hours after the current conflict began the previous month, with Keane overseeing operations remotely from his Dublin base while the bulk of the squad remained in Israel.

Keane did not take questions about the political situation in Israel although his striker Erin Zahavi did say that Maccabi were “representing all of Israel”.

Keane, who was criticised in Ireland and further afield for taking up the post with an outfit which was labelled as “racist and apartheid Israeli club” by one Sinn Féin TD, stuck to sport.

"Obviously the circumstances are difficult, but as soon as we all came back together it was like a few weeks ago," Keane said at a press conference in Poland.

“It just shows the togetherness that the team has had since I arrived and it will always accompany us. I have been very pleased with the attitude of everyone and their application.

"So far it's been a good week for us and I think for everyone now, this game can't come around quick enough.”

He added: "Obviously we have been waiting to see the players, we have been in contact with them in the last few weeks, a lot.

"They have trained very well, they are in good shape, that’s every player. The mood in the last few days is very good. This is the essence of a team, what a team is all about, when people really want to play for each other.”