Great letter in today’s IT from David Woods of the Dept. of Classics in UCC, skewering the flotilla hysterics 👇
Sir, – Micheál Martin’s hysterical over-reaction to the Israeli detention of Irish citizens participating in the Sumud flotilla embarrasses Ireland on the international stage yet again. These people were not innocent holidaymakers suddenly snatched at sea, but political provocateurs who desperately sought arrest and detention by Israeli forces. This event should be treated as the publicity stunt that it was.
The real injured parties here are the ordinary Israeli and Irish taxpayers who have to pay for the arrest and repatriation of these middle-class narcissists. The best way for this Government to stop the genuinely shocking humiliation and mistreatment of Irish citizens would be to focus on the homelessness crisis in Ireland, or the ever-growing hospital waiting list, and ignore the self-indulgent gimmicks of the anti-Israeli lobby. – Yours, etc,
DR DAVID WOODS,
Dept of Classics,
University College Cork.