The Government must do more than offer hollow words of condemnation while Irish activists are abused in Israeli captivity, according to Social Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson Patricia Stephenson.<\/p>\n
Senator Stephenson said:<\/p>\n
\u201cFootage which depicts Irish woman, and humanitarian flotilla member, Catriona Graham being abused in Israeli detention is horrifying and outrageous.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe video shows Ms Graham being beaten by Israeli forces and forced into a stress position as far-right Minister Ben-Gvir taunts detained members of the flotilla.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf this is the abuse meted out to detained Western members of a flotilla in public, I dread to think of the horrors being perpetrated on illegally detained Palestinian prisoners.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe activists of the Global Sumud Flotilla, at least a dozen of whom are Irish, were illegally detained by Israeli forces in international waters off Cyprus, a flagrant violation of international law.<\/p>\n
\u201cDr Margaret Connolly, President Catherine Connolly\u2019s sister, was one of those illegally detained by Israel, yet the Government has provided nothing but empty words of condemnation on this outrage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen is our craven Government going to stick up for our citizens who are being illegally held by Netanyahu\u2019s rogue regime?<\/p>\n
\u201cBen-Gvir is a coward and a bully. It\u2019s past time the Irish government did more than utter hollow words in response to Israeli aggression.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Government must immediately pass the Occupied Territories Bill and demand the EU impose sanctions on this murderous regime.\u201d<\/p>\n
May 20th, 2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Government must do more than offer hollow words of condemnation while Irish activists are abused in Israeli captivity, according to Social Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson Patricia Stephenson. Senator Stephenson said: \u201cFootage which depicts Irish woman, and humanitarian flotilla member, Catriona Graham being abused in Israeli detention is horrifying and outrageous. \u201cThe video shows Ms […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":14727,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[408,718,641,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foreign-affairs","category-israel","category-patricia-stephenson","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n