Irish flotilla activists return home after Israeli detention

Dr Margaret Connolly (right) embraces her daughter, Katie, at Dublin Airport as fifteen Irish citizens who were detained by Israel arrive back in Ireland. Picture: Conor O Mearain/PA Wire

Irish activists have described being “kidnapped” and “beaten” by Israeli forces after their aid flotilla to Gaza was intercepted in international waters.

Dr Margaret Connolly, sister of President Catherine Connolly, was among the arrivals at Dublin Airport on Saturday.

The GP told reporters her “heart was breaking” thinking of the Palestinian people who were in Israeli detention.

“They wanted us to suffer,” she said, adding: “None of them could look us in the eye. What a dehumanising thing to do to men and women from aged 22 up to 75.” 

She said the care that flotilla participants showed each other got them through the experience.

Dr Connolly said the current “Israeli regime has to be disbanded” as she called for land to be “given back to the Palestinian people”.

“They cannot, cannot, cannot continue with this genocide.” Hundreds of people had gathered to welcome them home, singing pro-Palestinian chants and waving flags and banners.

There were cheers in the terminal as friends and family hugged their loved ones when they walked through the arrival gates.

The Irish detainees were among hundreds of participants from other countries who were also detained when the latest iteration of the global sumud flotilla was stopped by Israeli forces in international waters.

There was international condemnation when, in a video on social media, Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was shown walking among some of the detainees and saying they should remain in prison for a long time.

The footage shows some people kneeling on the ground in tightly-packed groups with their hands tied behind their backs.

At Dublin Airport on Saturday, some of the dozen returnees confirmed the treatment and recounted being beaten, having guns pointed at them and being “tortured”.