From Tyrone to Gaza: One GAA man's fight on behalf of the Palestinian people
John Hurson has used the network of the GAA to raise awareness of the situation in Palestine. Now he’s targeting getting mobile maternity units into Gaza as soon as a ceasefire happens.
AS FAR BACK as the end of March, a small group of activists staged a protest outside Croke Park, voicing their opposition to the GAA’s long-standing commercial links to Allianz.
Allianz’s Irish division has sponsored the GAA National Leagues for over 30 years, and the GAA Football Championships since 2023, but the German financial services parent company — through its asset management subsidiary, PIMCO — is a significant investor in Israeli treasury bonds.
“A group of us got together and thought to organise some sort of a protest around the league finals,” explains John Hurson, a veteran political activist from Edendork, Co Tyrone who was screaming about the treatment of Palestinians by Israeli forces long before it entered the public consciousness.
When the protesters arrived at Croke Park, there was a notable Garda presence. The protesters were threatened with arrest, to which the venerated former Dublin footballer and selector, Dr David Hickey, replied, “I helped build that bloody stadium!”
John Hurson.
That was the first mark in the campaign against Allianz within the GAA. Leaflets were handed out to the crowds going in.
From then on, Gaels Against Genocide have been taking up the challenge. The group has been protesting and holding various fundraisers that have helped towards the cost of mobile maternity units that Hurson has been instrumental in organising.
They have garnered support from far and wide. On August 20, an open letter and petition was handed to Croke Park demanding that the GAA end their deal with Allianz. Among those present included former Meath player and pundit Colm O’Rourke, who was joined by figures such as Mickey Whelan, Shane McGuigan of Derry and Pascal Canavan of Tyrone.
“Sometimes the right thing costs money, but in this case, it is the least of what we should do,” said O’Rourke.
“I think all club members should be made aware of this. When they do become aware, they will want the link with Allianz to be broken once and for all.
“If it means that we don’t have a sponsor for the National League competition, so be it.”
In June, a report by Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, publicly highlighted Allianz’s investment in Israeli treasury bonds and accelerated the cause.
At a meeting on 7 September, GAA Central Council referred the matter to their Ethics and Integrity Committee for review, with a decision expected soon.
For now, the outlook for a relationship between the GAA and Allianz would seem unlikely to Hurson.
They cannot do this. They have to take the higher moral ground, and it is as simple as that. They are lucky that the intercounty season is over. Otherwise, you would be going to the gates of Croke Park for big games.
A truck driver by day, Hurson has been involved in raising awareness about the plight of the Palestinians for many years.
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His own political awakening started early with an uncle interred during the Troubles. When living in America, Hurson became involved in the Irish American Unity Conference that had high-profile speakers, among them Paddy Hill of the Birmingham Six.
It was the winter of 2008 when the situation in Gaza became his chief concern. Traditional media had not truly captured the stark reality of life on the ground, but social media was the means by which he could access footage and accounts.
Since then, he has been on three convoys to deliver aid to Gaza, organised through the veteran politician George Galloway and his charity group Viva Palestina. With Hurson’s driving background, he felt this was something he could help with and offered his services.
“It was actually a dream of mine going back to even the days of Live Aid, watching the aid convoys going over,” he recalls.
As it was, they had enough drivers, but if he wanted to organise a vehicle and fill it, then he was welcome to join.
His first port of call was to Rocwell, a bottled water company in Pomeroy, Co Tyrone. At the time, they were sponsors of Tyrone, who were the reigning All-Ireland football champions. They had a lorry and agreed to sell it to Hurson. When he came to pay, they refused to take anything and donated it.
It soon became apparent to Hurson that the GAA network was invaluable.
He set about raising awareness. He has a flag which combines the county colours of Tyrone and the national colours of Palestine carrying the message ‘Tyrone to Gaza’.
“I used to go to people and never missed an opportunity to get a photo with them and the flag,” he says.
“But before they would sign it, I would tell them what it represents. That included how we brought the GAA jerseys to Gaza and so on. That was an easier photograph to get than if you just walked over with a Palestine flag to them.
“Anybody I was talking to, I found them totally intrigued. I have never had that flag out now since 7 October [2023], because I don’t need to any more.”
Among those to sign included Peter Canavan, Oisín McConville, Declan Bonner, Michael Murphy, Mickey Harte, Niall Quinn and many more, Hurson says.
“Then you had the photographs of the children in Gaza wearing the jerseys,” he says.
“As I always said, it humanises it. When you see a child with a jersey anywhere in the world, they are human to you.”
Palestinian children in Dublin jerseys.
Later on, he spoke of his aspirations of forming a GAA club in Gaza. Having met and interviewed Noam Chomsky in Belfast, he persuaded him to agree to become the club’s co-President, along with Peter Canavan.
With donations, he filled the lorry for that first aid convoy. The Sam Maguire trophy was brought down for a photo opportunity, and he secured local coverage of his efforts.
Kit manufacturers O’Neills were particularly helpful, giving a pallet of around 1,000 jerseys for children. What took him aback was the level of aid donated. He could have filled ten lorries, and had to find others with sheds willing to take the surplus.
As the sole Irish person on the trip, the convoy headed off from London, travelling through France, Spain, into Morocco and across the African coast to Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and then in through Egypt. Nineteen days later, due to various hold-ups and stops, they arrived in Gaza.
It was six weeks after a three-week war ended. The scene that met them was one of destruction, with white phosphorus shells of bombs still smouldering on the ground.
“What it meant to the Palestinians of Gaza, seeing us coming… tens of thousands were lining the streets the whole way through. It was amazing for them, because they were under siege,” says Hurson.
Inside one of the mobile maternity clinics ready to be transported from Cairo to Gaza.
He went twice more, making his last journey in October 2010, but has never lost the strong friendships formed with his fellow activists. They regularly host Zoom meetings and during one of these earlier this year, a friend showed a video of ambulances acting as maternity units. He was involved in a group in Turkey called Medics Worldwide.
“These were being built in Cairo. And I immediately just thought that a mobile maternity clinic would be unreal,” says Hurson.
“With bringing aid to Gaza before, we knew what would be important and useful to them.
“With all their hospitals getting destroyed, something like this can go anywhere. It can go to a camp, can go to a hospital, work outside it, whatever.
“I enquired about the price of it. It was $100,000 to build in Cairo and a couple of people were asking me about ideas for fundraising, so I threw this idea out. They picked up the baton, and we had three big coffee mornings in a row: one in An Port Mór in Blackwatertown, one in Killeeshil, and Greencastle. We were well on our way with that, money-wise.”
Gaels Against Genocide came on board. By the end of May, they had the first clinic under construction. Two months later, they had generated the capital to finish the first and start a second mobile unit, expected to be completed by mid-October.
Altogether, Medics Worldwide have 14 new ambulances and seven mobile clinics sitting waiting in a warehouse in Cairo. However, they cannot get these units into Gaza as Israel’s offensive, with no sanctions or punishments forthcoming, continues with impunity.
More than 65,000 people have now been killed by Israel’s offensive in Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Allianz’s sponsorship of the GAA remains in stark focus.
“I do know the GAA is like any big organisation, things do not move too fast, but they are going to have to move on this one. They cannot continue with Allianz,” says Hurson.
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From Tyrone to Gaza: One GAA man's fight on behalf of the Palestinian people
AS FAR BACK as the end of March, a small group of activists staged a protest outside Croke Park, voicing their opposition to the GAA’s long-standing commercial links to Allianz.
Allianz’s Irish division has sponsored the GAA National Leagues for over 30 years, and the GAA Football Championships since 2023, but the German financial services parent company — through its asset management subsidiary, PIMCO — is a significant investor in Israeli treasury bonds.
“A group of us got together and thought to organise some sort of a protest around the league finals,” explains John Hurson, a veteran political activist from Edendork, Co Tyrone who was screaming about the treatment of Palestinians by Israeli forces long before it entered the public consciousness.
When the protesters arrived at Croke Park, there was a notable Garda presence. The protesters were threatened with arrest, to which the venerated former Dublin footballer and selector, Dr David Hickey, replied, “I helped build that bloody stadium!”
That was the first mark in the campaign against Allianz within the GAA. Leaflets were handed out to the crowds going in.
From then on, Gaels Against Genocide have been taking up the challenge. The group has been protesting and holding various fundraisers that have helped towards the cost of mobile maternity units that Hurson has been instrumental in organising.
They have garnered support from far and wide. On August 20, an open letter and petition was handed to Croke Park demanding that the GAA end their deal with Allianz. Among those present included former Meath player and pundit Colm O’Rourke, who was joined by figures such as Mickey Whelan, Shane McGuigan of Derry and Pascal Canavan of Tyrone.
“Sometimes the right thing costs money, but in this case, it is the least of what we should do,” said O’Rourke.
“I think all club members should be made aware of this. When they do become aware, they will want the link with Allianz to be broken once and for all.
“If it means that we don’t have a sponsor for the National League competition, so be it.”
In June, a report by Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, publicly highlighted Allianz’s investment in Israeli treasury bonds and accelerated the cause.
At a meeting on 7 September, GAA Central Council referred the matter to their Ethics and Integrity Committee for review, with a decision expected soon.
For now, the outlook for a relationship between the GAA and Allianz would seem unlikely to Hurson.
A truck driver by day, Hurson has been involved in raising awareness about the plight of the Palestinians for many years.
His own political awakening started early with an uncle interred during the Troubles. When living in America, Hurson became involved in the Irish American Unity Conference that had high-profile speakers, among them Paddy Hill of the Birmingham Six.
It was the winter of 2008 when the situation in Gaza became his chief concern. Traditional media had not truly captured the stark reality of life on the ground, but social media was the means by which he could access footage and accounts.
Since then, he has been on three convoys to deliver aid to Gaza, organised through the veteran politician George Galloway and his charity group Viva Palestina. With Hurson’s driving background, he felt this was something he could help with and offered his services.
“It was actually a dream of mine going back to even the days of Live Aid, watching the aid convoys going over,” he recalls.
As it was, they had enough drivers, but if he wanted to organise a vehicle and fill it, then he was welcome to join.
His first port of call was to Rocwell, a bottled water company in Pomeroy, Co Tyrone. At the time, they were sponsors of Tyrone, who were the reigning All-Ireland football champions. They had a lorry and agreed to sell it to Hurson. When he came to pay, they refused to take anything and donated it.
It soon became apparent to Hurson that the GAA network was invaluable.
He set about raising awareness. He has a flag which combines the county colours of Tyrone and the national colours of Palestine carrying the message ‘Tyrone to Gaza’.
“I used to go to people and never missed an opportunity to get a photo with them and the flag,” he says.
“But before they would sign it, I would tell them what it represents. That included how we brought the GAA jerseys to Gaza and so on. That was an easier photograph to get than if you just walked over with a Palestine flag to them.
“Anybody I was talking to, I found them totally intrigued. I have never had that flag out now since 7 October [2023], because I don’t need to any more.”
Among those to sign included Peter Canavan, Oisín McConville, Declan Bonner, Michael Murphy, Mickey Harte, Niall Quinn and many more, Hurson says.
“Then you had the photographs of the children in Gaza wearing the jerseys,” he says.
“As I always said, it humanises it. When you see a child with a jersey anywhere in the world, they are human to you.”
Later on, he spoke of his aspirations of forming a GAA club in Gaza. Having met and interviewed Noam Chomsky in Belfast, he persuaded him to agree to become the club’s co-President, along with Peter Canavan.
With donations, he filled the lorry for that first aid convoy. The Sam Maguire trophy was brought down for a photo opportunity, and he secured local coverage of his efforts.
Kit manufacturers O’Neills were particularly helpful, giving a pallet of around 1,000 jerseys for children. What took him aback was the level of aid donated. He could have filled ten lorries, and had to find others with sheds willing to take the surplus.
As the sole Irish person on the trip, the convoy headed off from London, travelling through France, Spain, into Morocco and across the African coast to Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and then in through Egypt. Nineteen days later, due to various hold-ups and stops, they arrived in Gaza.
It was six weeks after a three-week war ended. The scene that met them was one of destruction, with white phosphorus shells of bombs still smouldering on the ground.
“What it meant to the Palestinians of Gaza, seeing us coming… tens of thousands were lining the streets the whole way through. It was amazing for them, because they were under siege,” says Hurson.
He went twice more, making his last journey in October 2010, but has never lost the strong friendships formed with his fellow activists. They regularly host Zoom meetings and during one of these earlier this year, a friend showed a video of ambulances acting as maternity units. He was involved in a group in Turkey called Medics Worldwide.
“These were being built in Cairo. And I immediately just thought that a mobile maternity clinic would be unreal,” says Hurson.
“With bringing aid to Gaza before, we knew what would be important and useful to them.
“With all their hospitals getting destroyed, something like this can go anywhere. It can go to a camp, can go to a hospital, work outside it, whatever.
“I enquired about the price of it. It was $100,000 to build in Cairo and a couple of people were asking me about ideas for fundraising, so I threw this idea out. They picked up the baton, and we had three big coffee mornings in a row: one in An Port Mór in Blackwatertown, one in Killeeshil, and Greencastle. We were well on our way with that, money-wise.”
Gaels Against Genocide came on board. By the end of May, they had the first clinic under construction. Two months later, they had generated the capital to finish the first and start a second mobile unit, expected to be completed by mid-October.
Altogether, Medics Worldwide have 14 new ambulances and seven mobile clinics sitting waiting in a warehouse in Cairo. However, they cannot get these units into Gaza as Israel’s offensive, with no sanctions or punishments forthcoming, continues with impunity.
More than 65,000 people have now been killed by Israel’s offensive in Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Allianz’s sponsorship of the GAA remains in stark focus.
“I do know the GAA is like any big organisation, things do not move too fast, but they are going to have to move on this one. They cannot continue with Allianz,” says Hurson.
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