Israel ‘inhumane’ to people detained from Gaza aid flotilla, says Cork comedian

Cork comedian and playwright Tadhg Hickey has spoken of the mistreatment he and other detainees from the Global Sumud Flotilla suffered at Ktz’iot Prison in Israel.

Mr Hickey was one of 16 Irish citizens, among the more than 450 people, detained by Israel from the 42-boat flotilla attempting to bring aid to the besieged Palestinian territory of Gaza.

Describing the treatment by Israeli forces of the flotilla detainees as “inhumane”, Mr Hickey said he had not thought that “white people, people of privilege, people with my type of passport, would be subjected to that treatment”.

Prison camp

“For the crime of trying to get baby formula into a besieged population to try and feed starving babies, we were brought to effectively a terrorist prison camp, denied any access to lawyers, denied any access to doctors, to medical care,” he said.

“Paddy [Kelly], a 75-year-old man, was denied access to insulin.

“They never gave him his insulin over three or four days, knowing that easily he could die because of that.

“We were drinking toilet water for three or four days,” Mr Hickey said.

“It’s not even a patch on what Palestinians are going through, but that was on my mind the whole time: If they’re treating me like this, with the passport I have and the privilege I have, imagine what they’re doing to Palestinians in prisons, many of whom are children.”

Other detainees from the flotilla included activist Greta Thunberg, Nelson Mandela’s grandson Mandla Mandela, as well as several European politicians.

A further five Irish activists, including Sinn Féin senator Chris Andrews, were expected to arrive in Dublin in the early hours of this morning on a flight from Athens.