Dr Margaret Connolly, sister of the President of Ireland, after being detained and tortured by Israel:
“They were cruel beyond measure, and they laughed at us the whole time. If they do this to Europeans and international ones, what do they do to the poor Palestinian men, women and children, hundreds of them, thousands of them imprisoned in Palestine.”
I was on a warship, on Monday and Tuesday, which means we were kidnapped and abducted and held against our will on a warship, which was a prison ship, which was a horror of a concentration camp.
Everybody was either handcuffed in ties to the front or the back. You were lucky if you were to the front. At least you could kneel down with your hands to the front. We were all bent down like hogs and kept in this position for hours.
I have a huge burn on my back where the sun beat upon us for hours. Every time they came through, every time they picked up a ship, they were fired like rats onto ground. We were given no toilet paper, no medicines, nothing.
They were cruel beyond measure, and they laughed at us the whole time. If they do this to Europeans and international ones, how dare they? What do they do to the poor Palestinian men and children, hundreds of them, thousands of them imprisoned in Palestine.
We had each other to wrap our arms around to warm each other. We were not allowed look up. We stared at the ground the whole time. They’d kick you if you looked up. They would not look us in the eye. We were not human to them.
How dare the Irish government allow this to happen? How dare they vote no to sanctions. It is utterly barbaric.
I am ashamed of my Irish government. I am angry that we, as Irish people who live such a privileged existence with 800 years of colonisation, should have a government that backs the Israeli state.
