Happy to be home

Derek and Jenny Graham from Ballina are pictured yesterday (Monday) at Dublin Airport with Fiona Thompson, Filmmaker; Denis Halliday, former UN Assistant Secretary General and Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate.

Happy to be home


Free Gaza activist Derek Graham calls for boycott of Israeli goods as he returns home

Anton McNulty

A BALLINA man who was deported from Israel along with his wife and three other Irish citizens has called on Mayo people to boycott Israeli goods to help stop what he describes as a ‘slow form of genocide’ which is taking place in Gaza.
Derek Graham from Ballina, along with his wife Jenny, former UN assistant secretary-general Denis Halliday, Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire and film-maker, Fiona Thompson arrived in Dublin airport yesterday (Monday) after being deported from Israel.
Speaking to The Mayo News from Dublin Airport, Mr Graham who was the skipper of the MV Rachel Corrie, spoke of the moments when the Israeli army boarded their ship, which was attempting to break through the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid to the people.
The Irish-registered Rachel Corrie was the last remaining vessel of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla which attempted to break through the blockade. Just days earlier, nine people were killed when Israeli forces boarded the ‘Mavi Marmara’ and despite this, he explained this made the crew even more determined to go to Gaza.
However, Graham admitted he was wary of what might happen to him when the boat was boarded on Saturday morning.
“I was ordered to stay on board the bridge. You have to realise the guy from the Mavi Marmara was basically executed by the Israelis, so I am standing there on the bridge by myself with no protection - so at that stage you start to get worried. I had six guns aimed at me and it only takes one trigger happy soldier.… so I was wary.
“All I did was keep my hands to the windows and kind of looked out until they told me to get down. They shouted at me to get face down on the floor, hands on the back of your head. Once I done that and they cable tied my hands behind my back at that stage, I realised I was pretty safe.
“When we were brought ashore everything electrical was taken off us which has not been given back and we were told to sign a form to say we entered Israel illegally. We argued that we were 35 miles out and nowhere near Israel and did not want to come to Israel and eventually all charges were dropped.”
Family, friends and supporters of the Irish crew had gathered to await their arrival who were removed from the Rachel Corrie (pictured above) on Saturday morning. Supporters chanted ‘Boycott Israel’ as family members rushed forward to embrace the group.
Derek, who has been to Gaza five times, was denied entry by the blockade on two occasions feels the actions of the last week have finally brought the plight of the people of Gaza to the general public. Derek thanked the people of Ballina and Mayo for the support which they have received over the last week and called on them to boycott Israeli goods in order to put pressure on their government.
“We hope what has happened will ignite a boycott of Israeli goods similar to what happened to South Africa in the 80’s, which helped them. The situation is dire at the moment in Gaza and people are dying in a slow form of genocide. The sewerage plant has not worked in three years so the raw sewerage of 1.5 million people is going out into the sea.
“Fishermen are not allowed to fish two miles out and are forced to fish in polluted waters and the fish are contaminated. People eat the fish because there is little else and get stomach complaints and because there is no medicine, some die. When I went into the hospital, looking at the line of sick children was like looking at a line of living coffins. By not buying Israeli goods we will put pressure on their government to stop the blockade,” he said.
Derek hoped that international pressure will force the humanitarian aid to be delivered to Gaza and he intended to get the Rachel Corrie back.