Nobel Prize laureate: Gaza’s children suffering

Mairead Maguire, who was detained at Ben Gurion Airport for taking part


Nobel Prize laureate: Gaza’s children suffering
Mairead Maguire, who was detained at Ben Gurion Airport for taking part in Gaza-bound sail in late May, rejects court’s suggestion that she return to Ireland and submit formal entry request. ‘I swore during visit to concentration camps not to keep quiet in the face of suffering children,’ she says

Ynet reporters

Nobel Prize laureate Mairead Maguire declined on Friday the Petah Tikva District Court’s offer that she return to Ireland to submit a request that the order barring her entry into Israel following her participation in the Gaza-bound flotilla be cancelled.

 

Maguire, who was detained at Ben Gurion Airport upon landing in Israel earlier this week, said that she swore during a visit to the concentration camps not to keep quiet in the face of suffering children, as there are in the Gaza Strip, according to her. 

Detained at Ben Gurion Airport
 
Nobel laureate detained at airport / Aviel Magnezi
 
Irish Peace Prize recipient Mairead Maguire deported after participating in May flotilla to Gaza, now arrives as member of women’s peace delegation
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The court suggested that she submit a request to Interior Minister Eli Yishai from Ireland for an entry visa to Israel.

 

Judge Rami Amir said Maguire should not remain in custody because she is not a criminal, but added that she should not have violated the Interior Ministry’s decision but rather file a formal entry request before leaving for Israel.

 

‘She’s not violent.’ Vanunu with Maguire in court (Photo: Yaron Brener)

 

Prior to the hearing, Maguire said she had arrived in Israel to attend a conference of Nobel laureates, scheduled for Saturday. She said Israeli authorities informed her she was banned from the country for a period of 10 years. Maguire said she wanted to return to „Israel and Palestine” to support peace.

 

 

Nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu, who attended the court hearing, said Maguire „is not violent; she wants peace and supports peace.

 

 

„She has brought peace to her country and wants to bring peace to this region as well,” he added. „She supports the Palestinians’ right to liberty.”

 

 

 

Maguire’s attorney, Orna Cohen, said the Nobel laureate arrived in Israel aboard the „Rachel Corrie” boat, not aboard the Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara, which was raided by Israeli commandoes in late May.

 

 

Cohen said that after the activists aboard the „Rachel Corrie” were taken to Ashdod Port, it was agreed that a permanent order barring their entry to Israel would not be issued. The attorney said no such order was presented to Maguire upon her arrival in Israel and was only told that the order appears on the airport’s computer system.