Australian detainees also alleged they and other flotilla members were subjected to abuse after being intercepted. The Israeli ambassador to Australia, Hillel Newman, claimed the detained flotilla members were handled with \u201cgreat sensitivity\u201d. He rejected claims of violence and sexual abuse.<\/p>\n
\u201cOut of the 400-plus people that were on the flotilla, no one was harmed,\u201d he told Australian TV network ABC on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Irish<\/a> activist Caitr\u00edona Graham on Thursday night said she and her fellow activists were subjected to violence and psychological torture after being detained by Israel.<\/p>\n \u201cAt various points there was a clear reality anyone could be attacked … We had one person shot with a rubber bullet for crossing a line we had no idea we weren\u2019t meant to cross, so it was very clear they were ready to use violence,\u201d she told RT\u00c9<\/a>\u2019s Prime Time.<\/p>\n The Israeli foreign ministry confirmed all the activists had been deported. Footage of them arriving in Turkey<\/a> was shared by the Global Sumud Flotilla on social media.<\/p>\n The activists were arrested at a port in southern Israel after the Israeli navy intercepted their protest flotilla in international waters on Monday. Their treatment by \u200bpolice officers, under the direction of Israel\u2019s minister for national security Itamar Ben-Gvir\u2019s direction, drew international outcry and a rebuke from prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu<\/a>.<\/p>\n A widely circulated video<\/a> showed a detained Graham standing up and chanting \u201cFree, free Palestine\u201d at Ben-Gvir, before being restrained by soldiers and pushed back down by the head to a kneeling position. <\/p>\n She said: \u201cWhen I saw him coming, knowing the horrific crimes he has committed, I could not stay silent. I called \u2018free Palestine\u2019 as loudly as I could and I faced the repercussions.<\/p>\n \u201cI was pulled to the ground, dragged away and brought into isolation and then had about eight commandos discussing in Hebrew what they were going to do to me, so I was preparing myself for anything that could happen next.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was not too violent, thankfully, especially compared to what many others have experienced, but it was definitely a very real danger\u201d.<\/p>\n [\u00a0Israeli far-right minister\u2019s Gaza flotilla abuses likely to be a vote-winnerOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n Graham said flotilla detainees were strip-searched and \u201ca lot of psychological torture and sleep deprivation tactics\u201d were used.<\/p>\n \u201cThis time on the prison boat, we were stripped of any warm clothing and left without any mattresses … So many different things to try and disrupt us. We know we need to do everything we can … to hold on to our power to make change happen,\u201d Graham said.<\/p>\n Palestine activist Greta Thunberg on Friday described the video of Ben-Gvir as \u201cbeyond appalling\u201d.<\/p>\n Thunberg, who has participated in previous Gaza aid flotillas, dismissed claims by the Israeli government that the manner of detention was not in line with Israeli values.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are a society built on genocide, ethnic cleansing and apartheid. What treatment would be in line with their values?,\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n Thunberg said the detained activists seen in the video were \u201cstanding up in the face of inaction from their governments\u201d under international law towards Gaza civilians.<\/p>\n \u201cInternational law is becoming a graveyard, we know that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that they are being treated like this, also in the context of thousands of Palestinian hostages as we have seen, that\u2019s not a world we want to live in.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked about Ireland\u2019s progression of the Occupied Territories Bill<\/a> (OTB), Thunberg said she viewed this as the \u201cbare minimum\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI welcome the efforts, but I think we need to do more,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Thunberg was in Stuttgart to attend the trial of Dubliner Daniel Tatlow-Devally<\/a>. He and four others stand accused of trespassing and criminal damage last September at a facility in Ulm owned by Israeli arms company Elbit systems. They also face charges of using symbols linked to the terrorist organisation Hamas.<\/p>\n Minister for Justice Helen McEntee confirmed on Thursday the Government planned to publish the long-delayed OTB, which would seek to restrict trade with illegally occupied settlements in Palestine, in the coming weeks<\/a>. The Government looks set to ignore calls to include services<\/a> in the legislation.<\/p>\n Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin has written to the president of the European Council calling for a European Union-wide ban on products from Israeli settlements and the suspension of the EU\u2019s Association Agreement with Israel following its \u201cshocking treatment\u201d of the activists.<\/p>\n \u2014 Additional reporting: The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Irish activists detained by Israel after taking part in the Gaza aid flotilla are due to fly home…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10748,3656,3409,61,60,3410,4267,1843,43],"class_list":["post-461915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-binyamin-netanyahu","tag-catherine-connolly","tag-gaza-strip","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-israel","tag-israel-defence-forces","tag-micheal-martin","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461915","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=461915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Irish](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/O2DWN2G5KNCKRMFCSR2LA3CG6M.jpg\")
Irish activist Caitriona Graham. Photograph: RT\u00c9 Prime Time <\/p>\n![\"Margaret](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/W6PU6MM4AFD3DJHHPMGBKS37XA.JPG\")
Margaret Connolly (left), sister of President Catherine Connolly, was among those detained and deported by Israel. Photograph: Murad Sezer\/Reuters <\/p>\n