Deported Irish woman returns home from Israel
Dale Ryan, son of Deirdre "D" Murphy, who was due to arrive home from Israel in the early hours after failing to lift an Israeli deportation order against her.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Independent
an hour ago
- Irish Independent
Hamas says it shot dead 12 fighters of Israel-backed Gazan militia
However aid group says the men were workers risking life to provide help ©Associated Press Today at 21:30 A unit of Gaza's Hamas-run police force says it has killed 12 members of an Israeli-backed Palestinian militia after detaining them, but an Israel-supported aid group said the dead were its workers. It was not immediately possible to verify the competing claims or confirm the identities of those killed.
Irish Daily Star
2 hours ago
- Irish Daily Star
Israel destroys one of Iran's main plants for producing uranium in devastating blow
Israel claims to have destroyed the facility where Iran was producing enriched uranium in its quest to create nuclear weapons . In a statement on X on Friday evening , the Israeli Defense Forces said they targeted the nuclear site in the Isfahan region, which is believed to be the location where Iran was attempting to produce the weapons. "At this moment, Air Force fighter jets have completed an attack on the Iranian regime's nuclear site in the Isfahan area, under precise intelligence guidance from the Intelligence Branch. The site is undergoing a process of 'reconversion' of enriched uranium," the IDF wrote at 8:39 p.m. local time. Read More Related Articles Melania 'says what we're all thinking' in awkward red carpet display with Trump Read More Related Articles Experts track three tropical waves as fears of extreme weather grow "This is the next stage after uranium enrichment in the process of producing nuclear weapons," the IDF wrote. "The attack destroyed a structure for producing metallic uranium, infrastructure for converting enriched uranium, laboratories, and other infrastructure." Israel described the ferocious attack at the "heart" of Iran's nuclear program as just the beginning as it vowed to eradicate the program once and for all as well as launch a more full-scale war with its main Middle Eastern rival. The assault, which occurred overnight on Thursday, is the most severe attack Iran has endured since the 1980s, when it was in conflict with Iraq. Iran retaliated on Friday evening by sending missiles flying into Israel (Image: AP) Iran swiftly unleashed a barrage of drones toward Israel in retaliation, with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowing "severe punishment." The counterstrike came after a reprimand from the U.N.'s atomic watchdog the day prior, which criticized Iran for failing to adhere to agreements designed to block its path toward developing nuclear weapons. Israel hinted about the possibility of such an attack on Iranian nuclear infrastructure for years and finally carried it out this week. The U.S. attempted to enter it, concerned that it might spark what it now has — a broader conflict in the Middle East that might not result in the effective dismantlement of Iran's nuclear program. The initial Israeli strikes struck several locations, including the one in Isfahan and the main one in Natanz, where plumes of black smoke were observed. Later in the day, Israel announced it had taken out several radar installations for surface-to-air missile launchers in western Iran. Israeli military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said the operation had "significantly damaged" the facility in Natanz, but added that the mission was "still in the beginning." Iran's top military leaders Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, Gen. Hossein Salami and Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh were all killed in the strikes. The first of them oversaw all the armed forces. The second was the leader of the parliamentary Revolutionary Guard. And the third directed the Guard's ballistic missile program. Protests against the strikes from Israel croped up in several other Middle Eastern countries, including Iraq (Image: AP) Taking to his Truth Social account early Friday morning, U.S. President Donald Trump penned a scathing message about the deal with Iran as he warned the country that everyone in it would be "dead" if leaders don't come to the table to finish the nuclear deal — which would prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons. "I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. I told them, in the strongest of words, to 'just do it,' but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn't get it done," Trump wrote. He also claimed he warned Iran that an Israeli attack might be imminent and how much damage one would cause, should one occur. "I told them it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come - And they know how to use it," the president wrote. Trump added that "certain Iranian hardliners spoke bravely" but ultimately "didn't know what was about to happen." He used their alleged subsequent deaths to bolster his warning message to the Middle Eastern state. "They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!" he wrote. "There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end. Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire. No more death, no more destruction, JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. God Bless You All!" In another post on Friday morning, Trump pressured Iran to get the nuclear deal done, noting the 60-day ultimatum he gave the country to reach an agreement — a timeframe that passed. He said they "perhaps" have a second chance now, however.
Irish Examiner
3 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Paul Hosford: Accusing Thunberg of Instagram activism over Gaza is missing the point
Earlier this week, I had a feeling of dread that I would wake up to news of the death of Greta Thunberg, a feeling others have echoed. When I went to sleep on Sunday night, the British-flagged yacht Madleen was sailing headlong towards Gaza carrying just a drop of the flood of aid required to ease the humanitarian disaster in the enclave. Twelve people on a yacht carrying baby formula, food, and medical supplies, including the 22-year-old climate activist, and there was legitimate concern that the Israeli administration would show no restraint — as it did in May 2010 when nine floatilla passengers were killed during a raid on a group of ships aiming to bring aid to Gaza. In the end, Israeli forces boarded the yacht and made a show of how humane the whole thing was, perhaps aware that killing innocents would be treated differently if their number included a French MEP. The captured dozen was given sandwiches and forced to turn over their phones as the yacht was escorted to Ashdod port. From there, the Israeli government began its mocking of the group. It published a picture of Ms Thunberg on social media and, before initiating deportation proceedings, was slamming the operation as a PR stunt — calling it a 'selfie ship' full of 'celebrities'. 'This wasn't humanitarian aid. It's Instagram activism,' said Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer, who extolled the virtues of his government, saying that it had delivered over 1,200 truckloads of aid in the last two weeks. This is despite the latest assessment from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) which says that people in Gaza are starving and that this demands the urgent opening of all crossings and on impeded access for humanitarian organisations to deliver aid at scale, through multiple routes. There is no question that aid to Gaza is being choked off by the Israeli government and that what is getting through is just a drop in an ocean growing every single day. Ongoing incidents Meanwhile, hospitals in Gaza City said 25 people were killed overnight on Wednesday into Thursday, near a convoy transporting flour and at a food distribution site run by the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which has been criticised as the wrong vehicle to deliver aid. Staff of the GHF died in an ambush on Thursday after a bus transporting them was raked with gunfire, an attack the Israeli government has blamed on Hamas. While the Israeli government mocked those who put their hands up and volunteered for the aid mission, it was joined online by an unlikely ally — the 'reasonable' adult. In any news story or Instagram post, or whatever tweets are called these days, you will have found a cohort of people delighting in the failure of the Madleen to deliver baby formula to starving children. These people will call themselves reasonable, they will call themselves centrists, they will call themselves good, and at the same time they will delight in the failure of a small amount of medical supplies reaching what has been described as hell on earth because they don't like the 22-year-old autistic woman from the internet. They are Christians with the best intentions, calling for a stranger's head. Ms Thunberg has long attracted this kind of commentary, particularly angering men with her activism and general refusal to just be quiet. They will have the same reaction to Paul Murphy's arrest as part of a march to the Rafah Crossing. The rationale appears to be that they genuinely believe that this was a personal mission from the Swedish woman — little more than an image-raising exercise. To what end someone who has spent most of her life engaged in the kind of full-throated activism that comes at more personal cost than benefit would do this is never really explained, but these commenters are sure that she is some kind of 'silly little girl' or some variation thereof. It couldn't be that Ms Thunberg was simply doing what she believed was right and using her immense global platform to highlight the continued suffering of Gazans; there must be an ulterior motive, one for personal benefit. Protesters took part in a demonstration outside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in Whitehall, London, calling for the UK government to protect the crew of Madleen, which carried Ms Thunberg and other activists. Picture: James Manning/PA Those comments betray much about those who make them, those who throw 'virtue signalling' or 'do-gooder' as slurs. They cannot imagine virtue, or good or empathy, that is genuinely selfless because they lack the capacity for all three. They cannot, at the same time, understand why the residents of Los Angeles would take to the streets as their friends and neighbours are extrajudicially arrested. They cheer online as rubber bullets, which killed 14 people during The Troubles, are fired indiscriminately into crowds or with terrifying accuracy at members of the media, or women walking home, because they do not see those people as on their side. These are the same people who will say they are afraid of Dublin's O'Connell St in the daytime, mocking those who stand up to oppression or genocide. PR exercise Of course the Madleen was a PR exercise. Of course it was a publicity stunt. Nobody on board expected the aid they were carrying to fix everything. In fact, I'm sure the whole exercise finished the way most on board would have imagined. They are not ignorant to the reality of what Israel will and will not allow reach Gaza. However, great injustices require action, and if that means making social media users look at a group of people on a quixotic boat journey, then so be it. This is not about your personal feelings towards the messenger and, if your first reaction was to look at method rather than message, then that is on you. In Gaza over the last few days, the internet has collapsed, the OCHA said on Thursday, due to damage to the last fibre cable route serving central and southern Gaza — likely caused during heavy military activity. They warn that this is not a routine outage, but a total failure of Gaza's digital infrastructure. Lifelines to emergency services, humanitarian coordination, and critical information for civilians have all been cut. There is a full Internet blackout, and mobile networks are barely functioning. So if any Gazans had had worries about the online discourse surrounding attempts to bring them aid — in between trying to stay alive, of course — they would not have had the capacity by week's end to check in on the comments section. The reaction to a group of people — including a very high-profile young woman, yes — trying to do the right thing speaks volumes for where social media has driven us: To a place where a sentence can contain the words 'I'm not happy that aid was blocked from reaching Gaza' and be followed by a 'but'. Perhaps not every thought needs to be shared, not every issue opined upon. Maybe, just maybe, it is time to read and listen and understand more than we post, and talk and think. It is a time to act and support the bravery of those who act in ways we cannot ourselves. Anything else will lead to what folk singer Tyler Childers calls 'the start of a long, violent history, of tucking our tails as we try to abide'. Read More Three Irish people detained in Cairo ahead of protest walk to Gaza border
