AN IRISH woman remained in detention in Israel last night after travelling there with several other activists as part of a so-called “flytilla” protest.
Dee Murphy (56) was held after disembarking from a plane at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport.
Ms Murphy, who is from Cork but now lives in Wales, had flown to Israel with a number of activists from Swansea. They were planning to visit Palestinian families in the West Bank as part of the “flytilla” protest, organised by a group of predominantly European activists. Ms Murphy is a founding member of an organisation called the Swansea Palestine Community Link.
According the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin, Ms Murphy had travelled to Israel on her Irish passport. Ireland’s Ambassador to Israel, Breifne O’Reilly, met her at the holding facility at the weekend. It is understood Ms Murphy and fellow activists were refusing to sign deportation order forms. It is expected they will be deported within days.
More than 100 foreign activists have been detained as part of the “flytilla” protest. Israel also convinced airlines to prevent another 200 from boarding Israel-bound planes from Europe.
The protest came after a bid by activists to breach Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza was stymied by Greece. It prevented a flotilla of ships from sailing to the territory.
An Irish vessel was forced to abandon its plans to take part in the flotilla after it was damaged. Activists on board, including a number of Irish politicians, claimed the boat had been sabotaged.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday the “flytilla” had been stopped through “diplomacy, intelligence, public security, migration control and other [measures]”.
He vowed similar protests would be blocked in the future: “Israel will continue to frustrate provocations and attempts to break through our borders, whether by land, sea or air.”