{"id":460108,"date":"2026-05-21T13:25:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T13:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/460108\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T13:25:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T13:25:09","slug":"fourteen-irish-flotilla-activists-detained-by-israel-on-way-to-turkey-after-deportation-from-israel-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/460108\/","title":{"rendered":"Fourteen Irish flotilla activists detained by Israel on way to Turkey after deportation from Israel \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gaza flotilla activists<\/a> who were detained by Israel<\/a> and later pinned to the ground to the taunts of Israel\u2019s far-right national security minister \u200chave been released from prison and deported to Turkey, officials said.<\/p>\n

Fourteen Irish citizens, including Dr Margaret Connolly, sister of President Catherine Connolly<\/a>, are among the more than 400 people being deported. <\/p>\n

The Israeli foreign ministry confirmed on Thursday afternoon all the activists had been deported. <\/p>\n

Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee<\/a> earlier said the 14 Irish people had arrived by bus at Ramon airport in Israel to be flown to Istanbul in Turkey, before flying back to Ireland.<\/p>\n

Speaking in the D\u00e1il on Thursday McEntee said they will be met by Clare Brosnan, Ireland\u2019s ambassador to Turkey. The Minister also confirmed the Government planned to publish the long-delayed Occupied Territories Bill (OTB) in the coming weeks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Referring to reports that two detainees had been hospitalised, she said they were not Irish citizens. However, she said \u201cothers have been injured and I will, as soon as I can, provide an update to the House as to whether or not that includes any Irish citizens\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Minister added: \u201cWe have consistently called for access and the ability to engage directly with them by our teams, and that has been denied of us.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I want to utterly condemn these actions, and say that it is not acceptable, whether it\u2019s the Irish Government or any other government, that we have been prevented from engaging and speaking directly to our citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me be very clear, these actions, the illegal detention, the way in which our citizens have been detained, we all saw the footage of direct contact with our citizens, it is completely unacceptable\u201d.<\/p>\n

The activists were arrested at a port in southern Israel after the Israeli navy intercepted their protest flotilla in international waters. Their treatment by \u200bpolice officers under Itamar Ben-Gvir\u2019s direction drew an international outcry and a rebuke from the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ben-Gvir and at least one other minister in Netanyahu\u2019s government, transport chief Miri Regev, posted campaign-style videos of themselves visiting the port and lambasting the protesters, attention-grabbing antics ahead of potential early elections in Israel.<\/p>\n

A detained Irish activist, Caitr\u00edona Graham, is seen at the start of the video standing up and chanting \u201cFree, Free Palestine\u201d just before Ben-Gvir walks past. She is then restrained by soldiers and pushed back down by the head to a kneeling position.<\/p>\n

Sligo councillor Declan Bree, the husband of Dr Connolly, said he had not spoken to his wife since Monday.<\/p>\n

Bree, a former TD, told RT\u00c9 radio\u2019s News at One: \u201cI presume that the Israelis have jammed the communications as they normally do.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said none of the family members of other Irish detainees were able to contact their loved ones in recent days.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would be same for all of the families with loved ones on the flotilla because we had been keeping in contact with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bree condemned the actions of Ben-Gvir as \u201cshocking\u201d and \u201dunacceptable\u201d.<\/p>\n

During Leaders\u2019 Questions, Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s Pearse Doherty and Labour\u2019s Ged Nash said the \u201cdecks should be cleared\u201d of all other business next week to allow the OTB to be debated and passed.<\/p>\n

McEntee reiterated she would bring the legislation forward \u201cin the coming weeks, irrespective of whether or not we reach a consensus at a European level\u201d and \u201cwe will enact this legislation as soon as possible\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said she was pushing for a vote \u201cat the next Foreign Affairs Council, which would specifically be on the banning or the suspension of the trade elements of the EU Israel Association Agreement\u201d.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday evening TDs voted against legislation seeking to impose sanctions on Israel, by 77 votes to 62.<\/p>\n

The Bill, which was tabled by People Before Profit-Solidarity, had proposed to prohibit all trade, investment, financial dealings and state-linked economic activity with Israel.<\/p>\n

Flotilla organisers say they aim to break Israel\u2019s blockade of Gaza by delivering humanitarian assistance, \u200bsomething aid bodies say is still in short supply despite a US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in place since October 2025 that includes guarantees of increased aid.<\/p>\n

The flotilla departed from southern Turkey this week before being intercepted \u2060on Wednesday. Past flotillas \u2013 including one carrying Swedish activist Greta Thunberg<\/a> \u2013 were also intercepted by Israel, with participants later deported.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Israeli rights group Adalah said \u200cthe estimated \u200c430 \u200bactivists had been released from prison in southern Israel and would be deported via the Ramon airport near Eilat on the Red Sea.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a> has written to the president of the European Council<\/a> calling for a European Union<\/a>-wide ban on products from Israeli<\/a> settlements and the suspension of the EU\u2019s Association Agreement with Israel following its \u201cshocking treatment\u201d of the Gaza<\/a> activists detained at sea. <\/p>\n

Martin wrote to Ant\u00f3nio Costa<\/a> expressing his grave concern at the treatment of EU citizens, including some Irish people, who were illegally detained by the Israel Defense Forces<\/a> in international waters. <\/p>\n

He called for the matter to be on the agenda of the next EU summit in June. <\/p>\n

Martin also condemned what he described as the unacceptable behaviour of Ben-Gvir.<\/p>\n

\"IsraeliIsraeli flags placed along the edge of a road in the village of Umm al-Khair in Masafer Yatta, in the occupied Palestinian West Bank. Photograph: Mosab Shawer\/Middle East Images\/AFP via Getty <\/p>\n

In his letter, the Taoiseach said the interception and treatment of those onboard were the latest examples of Israel\u2019s growing disregard for international norms and its failure to meet its obligations under international law. <\/p>\n

Martin had written that seven months after a ceasefire was called in Gaza, aid has yet to reach the population in sufficient volumes, and conditions there remain shocking. <\/p>\n

He referred to continued expansion of Israeli illegal settlements in the West Bank with settlers inflicting extreme violence against Palestinian communities. It is, he said, a deliberate attempt to undermine the viability of the two-state solution.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018Disgusting behaviour\u2019: Taoiseach condemns Israeli minister who taunts detained Gaza flotilla activistsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

He also referred to the introduction of the death penalty in Israel and its incursion into southern Lebanon, and widespread bombing of the country, especially its capital Beirut. <\/p>\n

In those circumstances, Martin argued in the letter, the EU cannot continue with a \u201cbusiness as usual\u201d approach to Israel.<\/p>\n

To further his call for a ban on illegal settlement goods and the suspension of the EU-Israel agreement, he asked for an urgent discussion among EU leaders at the next meeting of the European Council on June 18th and 19th, when it is due to discuss the situation in the Middle East. – Additional reporting from agencies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gaza flotilla activists who were detained by Israel and later pinned to the ground to the taunts of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[128175,5148,96282,3409,42,3410,4267,3411,14396,1843,43,4268,40,38,41,39,27129],"class_list":["post-460108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-antonio-costa","tag-european-union","tag-european-council","tag-gaza-strip","tag-headlines","tag-israel","tag-israel-defence-forces","tag-israel-hamas-conflict","tag-lebanon","tag-micheal-martin","tag-news","tag-palestine","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-west-bank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}