Margaret Connolly, a doctor from the northwestern Irish city of Sligo, was one of at least six Irish members of the Global Sumud Flotilla who were detained when Israeli troops boarded her ship on Monday, said Karen Moynihan, an Irish spokeswoman for the Gaza-supporting aid group.
“I'm very proud”
Catherine Connolly, speaking after visiting King Charles at Buckingham Palace in London, said she was “very proud of her sister but at the same time very worried about her.”
— I was very busy today… I did not have the opportunity to obtain detailed information about my sister and, equally importantly, her colleagues on the ship, the president said, declining to comment further on the matter.
This incident, and the president's open support for Irish citizens aboard the flotilla, could worsen already weak diplomatic relations between Ireland and Israel. In 2024, Israel closed its embassy in Dublin in protest against Ireland's decision to recognize Palestinian statehood and accuse Israelis of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli government denies these allegations.
President Connolly, an independent socialist politician who has been sharply critical of Israel, was elected to this largely ceremonial position in October. Since then, she has directed only veiled criticism at Israel.
The Sumud Flotilla group reported that Israeli forces stopped and inspected a dozen ships in the Mediterranean waters south of Cyprus and north of the Gaza Strip, the third such action this month. It was not immediately clear how many protesters were detained or where Israeli forces were taking them.
“Provocation for provocation's sake”
Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a video that it said showed those detained on Monday greeting each other as they waited to board unidentified Israeli ships.
Earlier, Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs dismissed the fleet as a “provocation for provocation's sake” that set sail “to serve Hamas, distract attention from Hamas' refusal to disarm, and impede progress on President Trump's peace plan.” Israel's foreign press department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Foreign Office in Dublin said it was “actively monitoring” the situation of the flotilla, which activists broadcast live on Monday as Israeli vessels intercepted and boarded their ships at sea. Most of the flotilla's ships sailed from the Turkish port of Marmaris on Sunday, and some of them arrived there from Italy.
Flotilla activists released a pre-recorded message from Margaret Connolly along with information about her detention by Israel. “If you are watching this video, it means that I was kidnapped from my flotilla boat by Israeli occupation forces and am currently illegally detained in an Israeli prison,” she said, holding her Irish passport in her right hand and wearing a T-shirt with an outline of a map of Ireland.
— The Palestinian cause is the moral compass of our times. This is what makes us human, she added in the video. “Palestinians will save our humanity,” she emphasized.
Margaret Connolly's detention at sea coincided with the start of her sister's three-day visit to Britain as Ireland's head of state.
During her meeting with the King at Buckingham Palace, President Connolly issued an official invitation to the Monarch to visit Ireland. In 2011, Queen Elizabeth II became the only reigning British monarch to visit the Republic of Ireland since its independence in 1922.
