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FOURTEEN IRISH CITIZENS who were illegally detained in international waters by Israel while taking part in a Gaza-bound aid flotilla are expected to return home on Saturday.
They were some of the first of over 400 activists to arrive in Istanbul on Thursday after being deported by Israel, following widespread condemnation of a video showing the activists with their hands tied and foreheads on the ground.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said there was “a lot of anger” across the EU at the video, which was shared by Israel’s far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, adding that it had “shocked the world”.
Dr Margaret Connolly, the sister of President Catherine Connolly, is among the 14 Irish citizens who were detained by Israeli forces.
The others are Colm Byrne, Michael (Mikey) Cullen, Tom Deasy, Cormac O’Daly, Adam Fitzhenry Collier, Catriona Graham, Fra Hughes, Helena Kearns, Louise McCormack, Luke McMenamin, Tara Sheehy, Joshua St Leger and Marius Stanley.
Caoimhe Butterly, a human rights campaigner who sailed with the flotilla for five weeks on a support and observer vessel, told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that they are expecting to travel together on a flight on Saturday afternoon.
She said the activists are “pretty shaken” and are in the process of recuperating in Turkey.
“We were up until 5am doing medical screenings and legal depositions with all 429 deported participants.”
Butterly, who works as a psychotherapist, said the accounts they heard from the activists range from “pretty severe physical violence” that resulted in broken bones, concussions, lacerations, psychological violence and “pretty sobering accounts” of sexual violence.
“The amount of physical violence inflicted on people’s bodies was severe, and the word that was used repetitively, both by healthcare professionals and students… and others who were on board was sadistic violence.”
On Thursday, Suhad Bishara, a lawyer for the detainees, said their treatment had been “severe” and that three had been hospitalised before being released, adding that many complained of humiliation while some complained of sexual harassment.
ככה אנחנו מקבלים את תומכי הטרור
— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) May 20, 2026
Welcome to Israel 🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/7Hf8cAg7fC
Catriona Graham, one of the Irish activists who could be seen in the video shouting “Free Palestine” before getting her head pushed to the ground by Israeli soldiers as a result, told RTÉ’s Prime Time on Thursday that she was strip searched twice and that activists were also “stripped of any warm clothing”, meaning they had to sleep on the bare floor of the container ship they were held on.
Asked how the government should respond to what happened, Butterly said a lot of the participants had expressed disappointment that the EU had not imposed sanctions on Israel.
“I played videos of a lot of what was being said in Ireland to people, and they were bolstered by the fact that a spotlight was shone not only on them but on the context of Palestinian prisoners and those in Gaza that they were trying to highlight, but I think people are really calling for that to be translated into practical political action.”
On Wednesday, the Dáil voted against a bill tabled by People Before Profit that sought to impose sanctions against Israel and prohibit trade and investment with the country by 77 votes to 62.
In a letter to the European Council president António Costa, Taoiseach Micheál Martin called for the EU to suspend its trade agreement with Israel in the wake of the “shocking” treatment of the activists, saying the bloc could not continue with a “business as usual approach” to Israel.
Speaking after a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, Martin said he had received “positive feedback” from his correspondence to Costa and that the matter will be on the agenda for the next council meeting.
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Helen McEntee will attend a high-level meeting in Brussels today, where she is set to urge fellow trade ministers from across the bloc to support Ireland’s stance for an EU-wide ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements.
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