Ireland urged to act after Israel seizure of Gaza boat

London, Nov 8, IRNA – The Irish Ship to Gaza (ISG) campaign is urging Ireland to pressure Israel to comply with international law imposing sanctions following the latest forceful prevention of humanitarian aid reaching the besieged Palestinians. ISG, which has organised a protest at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin on Monday night, is calling on the Irish government to impose a series of sanctions against the Israeli regime. The concrete actions include suspending Israel from the Euromed Agreement, ending all arms trade with Israel, ensuring no Irish state-funded institution cooperate with its associated institutions and cease all grants made under the EU’s research program. “We must show the Department of Foreign Affairs that they are not doing enough either to support our friends in an Israeli prison, or to put pressure on Israel to comply with international law,” the ISG said in a statement obtained by IRNA. Last Friday, the Israel Defence Force forcefully intercepted the latest attempt to breach the five-year siege of Gaza by the Irish MV Saoirse and the Canadian registered Tahrir. ISG national coordinator Fintan Lane, who was among 14 humanitarian activists seized aboard the MV Saoirse, described the takeover of the two boats as “violent and dangerous” in a phone call from his Israeli prison. “Despite very clear protests from the occupants of the two boats that they did not want to be taken to Israel, they were forcibly removed from the boats in a violent manner,” Lane said. “The whole takeover took about three hours. It began with Israeli forces hosing down the boats with high pressure hoses and pointing guns at the passengers through the windows,” he said. “The boats were corralled to such an extent that the two boats, the Saoirse and the Tahrir, collided with each other and were damaged, with most of the damage happening to the MV Saoirse. The boats nearly sank,” he added. ISG spokeswoman Claudia Saba said Lane’s account “flatly contradicts the Israeli narrative that Israel ‘took every precaution necessary to ensure the safety of the activists on board the vessels’./end