GAZA flotilla activist Tom Deasy has spoken of his mixed feelings about returning home to West Cork after detention in Israel. 

The 46-year-old from Castlefreke was one of 14 Irish citizens deported from Israel via Turkey.

The tour guide was sailing on the Global Sumud Flotilla taking aid to Gaza, when Israeli forces intercepted the mission near Cyprus on May 19th. 

He spent more than 72 hours on a prison ship and in jail in gruelling conditions with 430 other flotilla activists, who have since given reports of beatings, sexual assault, limited food and drink and no medical care. 

Tom told of the ‘bittersweet feeling’ of arriving at Dublin airport on May 23rd. ‘To be with friends and family now is absolutely amazing,’ he said. ‘In general, the support I’ve received from people around West Cork has been absolutely phenomenal.’

At the same time, Tom said his thoughts were with the Palestinian people and prisoners who had endured violence and torturous treatment for years.

‘The important thing was that we were there, and also to bring the attention back to the people of Gaza and the Palestinian plight in general,’ he said.

The activist spoke of the violent treatment and the taxing conditions in detention, including being offered just wet or frozen bread to eat and being handcuffed in stress positions in the sun for long periods with armed guards throwing flash bangs into the crowd. 

The flotilla crew, among them President Connolly’s sister, Dr Margaret Connolly, used plastic wrapping from water bottles as slings for broken arms because of a lack of medical care.

Israeli officials denied any ill treatment of those detained.

Since coming back home to Castlefreke, the tour guide is trying to process the emotions in the wake of the events and has gone on many walks with his dog Archer. 

‘There's a lot of guilt, there's happiness. You feel silly for feeling bad because you're home. But the reality of it is I'm home, but part of me is not,’ he said.

Tom has organised and taken part in protest marches and fundraisers for the past two-and-a-half years.

Inspired by Cork man Tadgh Hickey who was on the flotilla last year, he decided to join the aid mission to Gaza himself.

His role on the flotilla was organiser, which included scheduling the night shift watch, sleeping arrangements and supplies onboard the vessel.

He described the atmosphere among the crew as calm and relaxed on the morning of Monday May 19th before Israeli forces came on board.

All mobile phones were thrown overboard the moment the Israeli forces stepped foot on the vessel, the first one intercepted that day.

‘We followed the instructions they gave us because they were an armed unit. There was no violence towards us at that stage,’ he said.

The flotilla crew were taken on to a prison ship where the physical violence escalated very quickly, he said. Mr Deasy became a target of the armed guards when a friend dropped a pair of glasses and he picked them up.

‘Once they saw me putting on a pair of glasses they hit me in the back with a gun. That was probably the first realisation of how serious of a situation I was in,’ he recalled.

And there were regular reminders of the ordeal, such as the black eye he sustained, and the emotional up-and-down since his return home.

‘At the moment my hands are quite numb from the handcuffs. I think most people suffer that. There are small little reminders like that of what you went through,’ he said.  

The group were kept on the ship for two days, for much of the time going around in circles, before they were taken to Ashdod port in Israel, then processed through immigration where all detainees were numbered, with No 47 assigned to Tom.

The flotilla activists were eventually taken to Ktziot prison, where conditions improved slighlty, before returning to Dublin via Turkey. 

The support among the Global Sumud Flotilla remained very strong, with Luke St Ledger from Crosshaven recently visiting him in West Cork.

‘We went through something that probably bonded us for life,’ he said.