Chris Andrews (Sinn Fein)

I thank everybody for their good wishes. It is nice to be back. The surroundings are a lot nicer than I have been used to for the last month or so.

On 1 October, Israel kidnapped citizens of 44 nations from international waters.They were on a humanitarian mission, a non-violent peaceful mission. Despite kidnapping 44 citizens from 44 nations, Israel faces no consequences. It is remarkable that it has been allowed to act with impunity in committing countless war crimes, genocide and man-made famine. It has also dismantled the international rules that have applied for many decades. Its act of piracy against the Global Sumud Flotilla was just another example in the very long list of international crimes. As I said, it was a non-violent humanitarian mission looking to bring in baby formula and medicines. We had baby formula on our boat.

I am very thankful for all the support we received while we were in an Israeli prison. In particular I thank Irish Sport for Palestine which was really supportive to me and the group. On a daily basis it holds Israel to account in terms of sport. I also thank the ambassador to Israel, Sonya McGuinness, who was fantastic. I thank Evan Cunningham in Israel who came into the prison to meet us and was very reassuring. I know they are working under very challenging conditions. They were very reassuring and professional. I also thank our ambassador to Greece, Ciara O'Floinn, and Leah Palleschi who were unbelievably kind, supportive, reassuring and professional. I thank Mary Lou McDonald, our party leader and Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire for their support from start to finish. Their support meant so much to family and friends. I also acknowledge the Minister, Simon Harris, for the empathy he showed to us. His calls were very much appreciated and very kind. I acknowledge the Department of foreign affairs which did so much to help the Irish delegation when we were released. We are forever grateful for their assistance.

Being part of the flotilla was a huge privilege and I met many amazing and inspiring individuals. It is now more important than ever to keep the momentum going, to keep protesting and to keep our eyes on Gaza and Palestine. We need to keep supporting justice for Palestinians. On the recent deal between Israel and Hamas, any respite that Palestinians get is welcome. It will be welcome to see all hostages released. I sincerely hope that the deal will bring justice. Obviously, peace is the objective and it is really important that we get peace. However, without justice there will be no peace. Palestinians have not had any justice for decades. We need to see Palestinians get justice. If there is a real justice, this deal will work. It remains to be seen whether justice will be built into this deal. If there is no justice, there will be no peace in the long run.