Southside politician tells of ship terror

A SOUTHSIDE
politician who was deported from Israel last week has claimed that he and other
Irish activists feared for their lives after Israeli forces almost sunk the
ship they were sailing on.

Some 14 Irish
people were detained in Israel for almost six days after their boat, the MV
Saoirse, was intercepted in international waters on the morning of Saturday,
November 4, by the Israeli navy.

Israeli
commandos boarded the Irish-flagged

‘Saoirse’ and the Canadian ship

‘Tahrir’,
which also carried seven activists of various nationalities, off Gaza before
the navy escorted them to the port of Ashdod.

Israel claims
the blockade is necessary to prevent weapons from entering Gaza, which is
effectively controlled by the Islamist group Hamas. The activists say they were
attempting to break the blockade on Gaza imposed by the Israeli Government.

Ballybrack
based councillor Hugh Lewis (PBP) was one of the 14 Irish activists who was on
the

‘Saoirse’ when Israeli commandos dramatically boarded the ship. He was also
joined on the peaceful mission by former Dublin South East Fianna Fail TD,
Chris Andrews, and Socialist Party MEP Paul Murphy, who is from Ballinteer.

Cllr Lewis
alleged that the

“massive and intimidating

? contingent of Israeli naval forces
almost sank the

‘Saoirse’ by firing several water cannon at the ship before
their forces boarded the vessel.

“They used
three water cannons at once,

? Cllr Lewis claimed.

“They actually set the
controls on the bridge on fire with the water cannon and shut down the
generator. They washed some of our activists down the stairs with the force of
the water.

“The other two
cannon were pointed at the windows and they smashed some of the glass. These
water cannon are very powerful and I don’t know how they didn’t get glass in
the backs of our necks.

?

He said that at
one stage the activists feared they might drown when the

‘Saoirse’ collided
with the

‘Tahrir’ due to the high volume of water the Irish ship had taken on
from the Israeli cannon.

“Our two ships
ended up colliding together and we had to cut our gang plank away,

? he
explained.

“That could have been the only thing that stopped the ship from
sinking. We were certainly in fear for our lives when we thought the boat was
sinking. Then the Israelis boarded us and we had guns pointed to our heads.
They had snipers aimed at the ship before they even got on. They were Israeli
commandos.

?

Cllr Lewis told
how the Israeli forces then guided the

‘Saoirse’ into the Israeli port of
Ashdod where they rigorously searched the activists, confiscated all their
equipment including mobile phones and cameras and sent them to prison.

He said the
Irish activists complied with an Israeli request to voluntarily leave the

‘Saoirse’ in the port of Ashdod.

He added that
they did not want to provoke the Israeli authorities in light of the fact that
10 Turkish activists who were on a similar peaceful mission to Gaza in May last
year were killed when Israeli commandos boarded their vessel.

Asked if he
felt intimidated by the Israeli authorities throughout their detention, he
said:

“Of course. We did feel intimidated. I was thinking about it and telling
myself ‘keep your head together, it is not that big a deal’. But when you have
these young lads who are twitchy and pointing automatic rifles in your face it
is a very scary situation.

?

Cllr Lewis
echoed the calls last week of five United Left Alliance TDs, including Dun
Laoghaire TD Richard Boyd Barrett (PBP), who urged his constituency colleague
and Foreign Affairs Minister, Eamon Gilmore (Lab), to sever all diplomatic ties
with Israel following the detention of the activists.

Seven of the
activists were originally scheduled to have been flown home on Thursday morning
last but they were later told by the Israelis that they could not board this
flight.

The Israelis
then held back two of this group of seven Irish activists while five of them,
including Cllr Lewis, were subsequently deported on a later flight and
eventually arrived home late last Thursday night. The remaining nine Irish
citizens were due to arrive home last Friday.

Southside
People contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs last week but nobody was
available for comment.

However, the
department referred Southside People to an interview on RTE Radio 1 on Friday last,
in which the Labour Party leader said he was concerned about the fact that the
activists were detained for so long in Israel.

“I am unhappy
about the length of time that it has taken for them to be returned to Ireland,

?
Deputy Gilmore said.

“I have spoken directly to the Israeli ambassador about
that. Our ambassador in Tel Aviv has spoken with the Israeli foreign ministry
about it. We have made it very clear that we are very unhappy at the length of
time it has taken to have the 14 returned to Ireland.

?