‘Hold Israel accountable,’ detained Irish citizens tell committee

By Gráinne Ní Aodha, Press Association

Irish citizens who were part of the flotilla that attempted to bring aid to Gaza and were detained have urged politicians to “hold Israel accountable”.

Some of the participants in the Global Sumud Flotilla told a joint sitting of two committees about how they were subjected to drone attacks on board the boats, before being detained by Israeli authorities and taken to Kestiot Prison in Israel.

They told politicians that Irish citizens were denied food, water and medication for diabetes while being detained and that some “came home traumatised”.

They said they had lodged complaints at their local Garda stations about their treatment by Israeli authorities.

During the committee appearance, there was a heated exchange between the flotilla members and a Fine Gael senator over whether the Irish Government had done enough for the Palestinian cause.

16 Irish citizens were among hundreds detained by Israel in September after it intercepted the Global Sumud Flotilla, which was carrying aid to Gaza.

Appearing before the foreign affairs and EU committees on Tuesday, Karen Moynihan, an organiser of the Global Sumud Flotilla and head of delegation for Ireland at the Global Movement to Gaza, said its main aim was to show that aid can be brought to Gaza.

She said that another flotilla demonstration is being planned.

“If another country had kidnapped Irish citizens, what would we have done? I don’t think we would have just sat by and done absolutely nothing,” she added.

Leigh Brosnan, a barrister who was on board the legal observer boat, said a legal team are “exploring litigation” over how citizens who were part of the flotilla were treated.

Asked whether a Defence Forces vessel should have accompanied the flotilla, she said that “there were courses of action that could have been taken”.

“The risks were extremely high, they were extremely plausible. There was very good ground to believe that serious harms could be done to the Irish citizens.”

The committee heard the flotilla participants compare how Irish soldiers attended the Mediterranean to help stranded migrants in previous years, and said this did not infringe on the legal restrictions to send Irish troops abroad.

Sarah Clancy, a flotilla participant, said they were held in the stress positions, strip-searched and denied access to bathrooms.

She said they were “threatened regularly” including by “heavily armed tactical units of up to eight personnel” who were armed with automatic weapons, pistols, riot shields, and Alsatian dogs.

Ms Clancy said that they were given uncooked vegetables by hand through small gaps in the door, and on the day before they were released they “started giving us loads of food”.

“There was no method for someone to have a meal. So technically, they could have given a list of the food they had given us.”

She also claimed that there was a drone attack that took place within EU waters off the coast of Crete, “which included an attack on the boat that myself and (Sinn Féin senator) Chris Andrews were on”.

Diarmuid Mac Dubhghlais, another flotilla participant, said they were denied any legal representation and said all his personal property was “stolen” and “denied to me”.

He said: “There are people that went on that trip that came home traumatised.

“A lot of people were shocked to find that when push came to shove, they were left in the middle of the Mediterranean and literally everybody ran away.”

Donna Schwarz, who was on board the flotilla, said they were subjected to “invasive” searches, sleep deprivation, personal belongings were confiscated and they were interrogated without legal representation.

She said that “for me the trauma was that nothing has changed”.

“Just after the drone strikes, we were told it could get worse. We all said we would continue on, I cried for about a day making my decision, and it’s going to be worth it.

“It’s going to create so much media attention that we’re going to open up this humanitarian corridor, there’s going to be food and aid allowed in, and still, people are starving there.”

Ms Clancy said: “It was interesting to me that (Sinn Féin TD) Sean Crowe asked us where we might hold Israel accountable, because we came here today to tell you that it’s your job – to hold Israel accountable.

“We’ve done as much as private citizens (can), honestly. We’ve put ourselves (out) as far as we possibly can, and I think most of us will probably do so again, and that’s what we’re asking you to do as well – to not leave a stone unturned.”

During the committee, chair of the EU committee and Fine Gael senator Barry Ward asked the flotilla participants whether Ireland had been “the strongest pro-Palestinian voice in the Western world”.

This promoted exchanges between Mr Ward and the witnesses about whether Ireland had done enough to support Palestinians, with one witness claiming that the Irish government had been “very strong on language, very poor on actions”.

Mr Ward said that “I’m not going to disagree with you that we haven’t done enough”, but said he had an issue with the claim of Ireland’s “complicity” with genocide in Gaza.

“I just think the context is important, because the suggestion from, I think, what every one of you said is that ‘we can stop this’. We can’t stop this.”

The flotilla participants said that Ireland can stop any participation Ireland has with Israel’s actions and that “there’s absolutely no place for balance in a genocide”.

Chair of the foreign affairs committee Fianna Fáil TD John Lahart told the flotilla witnesses “we’re not your enemy in this” and that “I hate that we divide on this”.

“It is not a matter of whether you’re our enemies, you’re our representatives,” Ms Clancy said.

“I’m a community worker, so I work with community groups, I work with the GAA, the Tidy Towns and every person that I am meeting wants more action from the Irish Government on this.”