Speaking in the Seanad last week, Senator Dearey asserted it was important that Members of the Oireachtas keep a watching brief on the Rachel Corrie “Free Gaza” voyage in the event that Irish people should find themselves in a serious confrontation with the Israeli blockade. This comes days before the ship approaches the Gaza coastline.

“I am joining with our ambassador in Jerusalem in asking that Irish passport holders be treated respectfully and be allowed complete their mission. It is the least we should be insisting on, given the gross abuse of Irish passports by Israeli agents in recent times,” he said.

The “gross abuse of Irish passports” involves a past incident when Mossad agents were accused of forging and using Irish passports in order to travel to Dubai to carry out the assassination of a Hamas official. Irish passports are widely viewed upon as ‘friendly’ as they are generally associated with foreign-aid.

“It is beholden on Irish parliamentarians to offer what support we can to this legitimate humanitarian exercise, an exercise that John Ging of the UN Relief and Works Agency has called for.”