Use of Irish airport for ICE deportation flights of Palestinians ‘deeply disturbing’

Politicians in Ireland have said the use of an airport in County Clare by planes deporting Palestinians from the US to Israel is “reprehensible”.A private jet owned by the Donald Trump donor Gil Dezer was chartered by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for two separate flights that took detainees to Israel, a Guardian investigation revealed this week.The flights left the US on 21 January and 1 February. Both made refuelling stops at Shannon Airport in the west of Ireland.Dezer’s family property company has built a series of Trump-branded residential towers in Miami. He recently spoke of his “love” for the US president, with whom he claims to have had a 20-year friendship.Some of those onboard the flights on Dezer’s jet said they had their wrists and ankles shackled for the duration of the journey. After arriving in Tel Aviv, they appear to have been taken to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.The Irish government said in a statement that as the flights stopped in the country for “non-traffic purposes” and were “not picking up or setting down passengers” they did not require prior approval from its transport department.However, on Friday, opposition politicians expressed concern to the Irish Times about the practice.Duncan Smith, foreign affairs spokesperson for the Labour party in Ireland, said: “It is absolutely reprehensible that any ICE deportation flights would be allowed stop and refuel in Shannon. The taoiseach and minister for transport must intervene and ensure this ends.” He added: “Ireland cannot in any way be complicit in these ICE flights.”Roderic O’Gorman, leader of the country’s Green party, said that it was “deeply disturbing” to learn “that Shannon is being used to facilitate the cruel actions of Donald Trump’s ICE”.Patricia Stephenson, foreign affairs spokesperson for the Social Democrats, said the government “must make a statement on whether it knowingly facilitated these flights”. She told the Irish Times that she believed the human rights of those onboard had been violated.Dezer’s aircraft was chartered via Journey Aviation, a company based in Florida that is regularly used by the US authorities to source private jets. It declined to comment on the flights to Israel.According to Human Rights First (HRF), which tracks deportation flights, Dezer’s jet – which he has described as his “favourite toy” – was first chartered for removal flights last October. The organisation said the plane had been used to fly detainees to Kenya, Liberia, Guinea and Eswatini, before its recent trips to Israel.One of those onboard the first flight was Maher Awad, 24. Originally from the West Bank, he has lived in the US for almost a decade. He has a partner and baby in Michigan.“They dropped us off like animals on the side of the road,” Awad said. “We went to a local house, we knocked on the door, we were like: ‘Please help us out’.”In an email, Dezer told the Guardian he was “never privy to the names” of those who travelled onboard his jet when it was privately chartered by Journey, or the purpose of the flight. “The only thing I’m notified about is the dates of use,” he said. He did not respond to further questions about the use of his jet by the Trump administration to deport Palestinians through Israel.Aviation industry sources have estimated the flights would have cost ICE between $400,000 and $500,000.A spokesperson for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not answer questions about the deportation flights to Israel, but said: “If a judge finds an illegal alien has no right to be in this country, we are going to remove them. Period.”