Israel Has Kidnapped Ireland's President Sister After It Illegally Intercepted Her Global Sumud Flotilla Boat
"It's quite upsetting, and I'm very worried about her,” Irish president Catherine Connolly told reporters in London.
Israel has kidnapped the sister of Ireland's president after it illegally intercepted her Global Sumud Flotilla boat bound for Gaza.
The Global Sumud Flotilla formed in July 2025, when several activist groups merged into a single coordinated mission in an effort to try to break Israel’s siege on Gaza, which has been in place since 2007.
In September 2025, it set sail for the first time from Barcelona, Spain, with more than 40 boats and about 462 people, but Israel intercepted several flotilla boats about 70 nautical miles off the Gaza coast and detained and deported all 462 activists.
Dr. Margaret Connolly, a 67-year-old doctor and the sister of Ireland’s president, Catherine Connolly, had joined the flotilla’s latest mission, sailing from Turkey with more than 400 activists on over 54 boats on May 14.
But on Monday May 18, Israeli forces once again intercepted at least 20 flotilla boats about 250 nautical miles from Gaza, boarding dozens of boats shortly after 9am and detaining hundreds of activists on board.
After nearly 35 hours, Israeli forces intercepted the rest of the flotilla boats about 80 nautical miles from Gaza.
Israeli forces abducted and detained 428 activists in total, before forcibly transporting them to Israel.
At least 11 Irish citizens were detained, including Margaret.
"It's quite upsetting, and I'm very worried about her,” Irish president Catherine Connolly told reporters in London during a press conference after meeting with King Charles.
Ireland’s leader Micheál Martin strongly condemned the incident and called on Israel to immediately release those detained, saying: "Such interceptions and detentions are wholly unacceptable and must stop.”
Cherry Mohamed
Flavie Chen
Kassy Cho
