View source for Mairead Maguire

{{Short description|Northern Irish peace activist (born 1944)}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=January 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox person
|name         = Mairead Maguire
|image        = Mairead Corrigan Gaza (cropped).jpg
|image size   = 
|alt          = Mairead Maguire, March 2018
|caption      = Maguire at the [[Free Gaza Movement]] in July 2009
|birth_name   = Mairead Corrigan
|birth_date   = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1944|01|27}}
|birth_place  = [[Belfast]], Northern Ireland<ref name=ac>{{cite news |url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iIL8y1m5Qg2jpc1m8v1UDHeJg76Q |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130124180028/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iIL8y1m5Qg2jpc1m8v1UDHeJg76Q |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 January 2013 |title=Mairead Maguire: Nobel winner, veteran peace campaigner |date=4 June 2010 |agency=AFP |access-date=5 February 2011 |quote=Maguire was born into a Catholic community in Belfast on 27 January 1944, the daughter of a window cleaner father and housewife mother, growing up with five sisters and two brothers.}}</ref>
|death_date   = 
|other_names  = Mairead Corrigan Maguire
|education    = 
|alma_mater   = [[Trinity College Dublin]]
|organization = The Peace People,<br />The Nobel Women's Initiative
|known_for    = International social activist
|spouse       = {{Marriage|Jackie Maguire|1981}}<ref name=ab>{{cite web |title=Mairead Corrigan Maguire |url=http://www.peacepeople.com/MaireadCMaguire.htm |publisher=The Peace People |access-date=4 February 2011 |quote=In September, 1981, Mairead married Jackie Maguire, widower of her sister Anne, who never recovered from the loss of her children and died in January, 1980. In addition to the remaining three children from the earlier marriage – Mark, Joanne and Marie Louise – Mairead and Jackie are the parents of John and Luke. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206150945/http://www.peacepeople.com/MaireadCMaguire.htm |archive-date=6 February 2012 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>
|children     = 2 (5)<ref name=aa /><ref name=ab />
|relatives    = Anne Maguire (sister)
|awards       = [[Nobel Peace Prize]] (1976)<br />Norwegian People's Peace Prize (1976)<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,918532-1,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629012907/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,918532-1,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 June 2011 |title=NORTHERN IRELAND: A People's Peace Prize |date=13 December 1976 |magazine=TIME |access-date=26 February 2011 |quote=To a standing ovation, Betty Williams, 33, and Mairead Corrigan, 32, co-founders of the Ulster Peace Movement (TIME, Sept. 6) arrived to accept the Norwegian People's Peace Prize.}}</ref><br />[[Carl von Ossietzky Medal]] (1976)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ilmr.de/die-carl-von-ossietzky-medaille/ |title=Die Carl-von-Ossietzky-Medaille |publisher=Internationale Liga für Menschenrechte (International League for Human Rights) |language=de |trans-title=The Carl von Ossietzky Medal |access-date=20 February 2011}}</ref><br />[[Pacem in Terris Award]] (1990)
|signature    = <!-- there is a signature, which can probably be made available for use on WP by request from the publisher, on page 14 here: http://www.nonkilling.org/pdf/forum1.pdf -->
|footnotes    = 
}}
'''Mairead Maguire'''<ref name=aa>Fairmichael, p. 28: "Mairead Corrigan, now Mairead Maguire, married her former brother-in-law, Jackie Maguire, and they have two children of their own as well as three by Jackie's previous marriage to Ann Maguire."</ref><ref>Abrams (2001) p. 27 "For many years Mairead Corrigan (now Maguire), thirty-three when she received the 1976 prize in 1977, was the youngest in the year of the award, but she has now been matched by Rigoberta Menchú Tum, also thirty-three when she won the prize in 1992."</ref> (born 27 January 1944), also known as '''Mairead Corrigan Maguire''' and formerly as '''Mairéad Corrigan''', is a [[peace activist]] from Northern Ireland. She co-founded, with [[Betty Williams]] and [[Ciaran McKeown]], the Women for Peace, which later became the [[Community for Peace People]], an organization dedicated to encouraging a peaceful resolution of [[the Troubles]] in Northern Ireland.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.peacepeople.com/PPHistory.htm |title=Peace People – History |publisher=The Peace People |access-date=20 February 2011 |quote=This was the beginning of the Movement and the three co-founders worked to harness the energy and desire of many people in Northern Ireland for peace... Ciaran named the movement, Peace People, wrote the Declaration, and set out its rally programme, etc. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611163252/http://www.peacepeople.com/PPHistory.htm |archive-date=11 June 2011 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> Maguire and Williams were awarded the 1976 [[Nobel Peace Prize]].<ref name=1976PeacePrize>{{cite web |title=The Nobel Peace Prize 1976 |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1976/ |publisher=[[Nobel Foundation]]|year=2009 |access-date=8 July 2009|quote=The Nobel Peace Prize 1976 was awarded jointly to Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan. Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan received their Nobel Prize one year later, in 1977.}}</ref>

==Early life (1944–1976)==
Maguire was born into a Roman Catholic community in [[Belfast]], Northern Ireland, the second of eight children – five sisters and two brothers. Her parents were Andrew and Margaret Corrigan.<ref name="nobelcv" /><ref>{{cite book|title=The International Who's Who, 2004|year=2003|publisher=[[Europa Publications]]|location=London|isbn=1-85743-217-7|pages=359|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=neKm1X6YPY0C|edition=67|editor=Elizabeth Sleeman|access-date=22 March 2011|quote=CORRIGAN-MAGUIRE, Mairead; Northern Irish human rights activist; b. 27 Jan. 1944, Belfast; d. of Andrew Corrigan and Margaret Corrigan.}}</ref> She attended St. Vincent's Primary School, a private Catholic school, until the age of 14, at which time her family could no longer pay for her schooling. After working for a time as a babysitter at a Catholic community centre, she was able to save enough money to enroll in a year of business classes at Miss Gordon's Commercial College, which led her at the age of 16 to a job as an accounting clerk with a local factory. She volunteered regularly with the [[Legion of Mary]], spending her evenings and weekends working with children and visiting inmates at [[Maze (HM Prison)|Long Kesh]] prison. When she was 21 she began working as a secretary for the [[Guinness]] brewery, where she remained employed until December 1976.<ref>{{cite book |last=Darraj |first=Susan Muaddi |title=Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams: Partners for Peace in Northern Ireland |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QeGYg9BMK3EC |publisher=Infobase Publishing |series=Modern Peacmakers |year=2006 |page=45|isbn=978-1-4381-0446-1 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Deutsch |first=Richard |title=Mairead Corrigan, Betty Williams |url=https://archive.org/details/maireadcorriganb00deut |url-access=registration |publisher=Barron's |year=1977 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/maireadcorriganb00deut/page/27 27]–31|isbn=978-0-8120-5268-8 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Peace: Nobel Lectures|year=1997|publisher=[[World Scientific]]|location=Singapore|isbn=981-02-1178-3|pages=149|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nz-HDhb5KO0C|author=Tore Frängsmyr|author2=Irwin Abrams|quote=Education: St. Vincent's Primary School, Falls Road, Belfast; Miss Gordon's Commercial College. Employment: From age 16 worked in various positions as a shorthand typist.}}</ref><ref name=buscher>Buscher, p. 32: "Máiread left school at the age of fourteen. She went to business school for a year, taking babysitting jobs to earn money. That year she also joined the Legion of Mary, a Catholic lay organization dedicated to helping the very poor in the Catholic community."</ref>

Maguire told ''The Progressive'' in 2013 that her early Catholic heroes included [[Dorothy Day]] and the Berrigan brothers.<ref name=progressive>{{cite web|last=Pal|first=Amitabh|title=Mairead Maguire|date=9 April 2013|url=http://progressive.org/mairead-maguire-interview|publisher=The Progressive|access-date=5 November 2013}}</ref>

==Northern Ireland peace movement (1976–1980)==

Maguire became active with the Northern Ireland peace movement after three children of her sister, Anne Maguire, [[1976 Andersonstown incident|were run over and killed]] by a car driven by Danny Lennon, a [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] (IRA) member who had been fatally shot by soldiers of the [[King's Own Royal Border Regiment]] (KORBR) while trying to escape the troops. Lennon had been released from prison in April 1976 after serving three years for suspected involvement in the IRA.<ref>{{cite book |last=Adams |first=Gerry |author-link=Gerry Adams |title=Cage Eleven: Writings from Prison |chapter-url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ira/readings/adams3.html |access-date=23 February 2011 |date=May 1997 |publisher=Roberts Rinehart Publishers |location=Colorado |isbn=978-1-56833-189-8 |chapter=In Defense of Danny Lennon |quote=Danny Lennon became involved in the republican movement in August 1971. He came into jail in October 1972 and he was released on 20 April 1976.}}</ref> On 10 August, Lennon and accomplice John Chillingworth were transporting an [[Armalite]] rifle through [[Andersonstown]], Belfast, when a foot patrol of the KORBR, claiming to have seen a passenger in Lennon's car point a rifle at them<ref>Fairmichael, p. 7. "Even if one accepted the official, army version of the incident (that a passenger in the escaping car was seen to point a rifle at the pursuing patrol, that the soldiers then fired 4 shots, killing Lennon) it took two sides to bring the incident about."</ref> fired four shots at the vehicle, instantly killing Lennon and critically wounding Chillingworth. The car Lennon drove went out of control and mounted a pavement on [[Finaghy|Finaghy Road North]], colliding with Anne Maguire and three of her children who were out shopping.<ref>{{cite journal |year=1986 |journal=Resistance |issue=3 |publisher=Irish Republican Support Group ([[Communist Party of Great Britain|C.P.G.B.]]) |title=Resistance |access-date=31 August 2016 |url=http://cedarlounge.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/irepsupgrp-cpgb-binder.pdf |quote=In August, Belfast IRA Volunteers Danny Lennon and John Chillingworth were moving a broken Armalite rifle in a car through Andersonstown when they were pursued by British soldiers. Without any provocation, the Brits opened fire. Danny, who was driving the car, was killed instantly and his comrade was seriously wounded. The soldiers continued shooting and the car, now out of control, mounted the footpath at Finaghy Road North and crashed into Mrs Annie Maguire who was going to the shops with her children, Joanna, John and Andrew, who all died of their injuries.}}</ref> Joanne (8) and Andrew (6 weeks) died at the scene; John Maguire (2) succumbed to his injuries at a hospital the following day.<ref>{{cite news |title=A woman of peace |first=Jim |last=Gilchrist |author-link=Jim Gilchrist (journalist) |url=http://living.scotsman.com/features/A-woman-of-peace |newspaper=[[The Scotsman]] |location=Edinburgh |date=28 July 2006 |access-date=23 February 2011 |quote=Eight-and-a-half-year-old Joanne, who was cycling alongside, and her six-week-old brother, Andrew, in his pram, were killed instantly; their brother, John, just two-and-a-half, died in hospital the following day. On August 10, Mairead Corrigan accompanied her stricken brother-in-law Jackie Maguire to the hospital, for the formal identification of his dead children. Afterwards, she went down to the television studio and asked to go on the UTV programme to make an appeal for an end to the violence in Northern Ireland from all sides, the appeal also appeared on the BBC and moved people around the world. }} [http://www.yasni.co.uk/ext.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fliving.scotsman.com%2Ffeatures%2FA-woman-of-peace.2796109.jp&name=Christopher+Beardshaw+Christopher+Ewart+Beardshaw+Ewart&cat=other&showads=1 Alt URL] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181030163725/http://www.yasni.co.uk/ext.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fliving.scotsman.com%2Ffeatures%2FA-woman-of-peace.2796109.jp&name=Christopher+Beardshaw+Christopher+Ewart+Beardshaw+Ewart&cat=other&showads=1 |date=30 October 2018 }}</ref>

Betty Williams, a resident of Andersonstown who happened to be driving by, witnessed the tragedy and accused the IRA of firing at the British patrol and provoking the incident.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.peaceproposal.com/Betty1.html |title='Each Child Belongs to Us': A New way forward for children of the world |first=Betty |last=Williams |author-link=Betty Williams |publisher=Peace Proposal |access-date=23 February 2011 |quote=Provisional I.R.A., on a mission to kill British soldiers, opened fire from the back of a speeding car on an Army foot patrol. They missed. The foot patrol returned fire killing the driver of the car, a young man named Danny Lennon. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715060537/http://www.peaceproposal.com/Betty1.html |archive-date=15 July 2011 }}</ref> In the days that followed she began gathering signatures for a peace petition from Protestants and Catholics and was able to assemble some 200 women to march for peace in Belfast. The march passed near the home of Maguire (then Mairead Corrigan) who joined it. She and Williams thus became "the joint leaders of a virtually spontaneous mass movement."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Reed |first=Roy |date=October 1977 |title=Two Battlers for Peace: Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams |journal=The New York Times Biographical Service |volume=8 |pages=1372–1373 |location=New York |publisher=Arno Press |access-date=6 March 2011 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3tc1AQAAIAAJ |quote=As part of the petition drive, she and some friends organized a small peace march. It attracted about 200 women. Miss [Corrigan] saw it pass her house. She joined it, and she and Betty Williams that day became the joint leaders of a virtually spontaneous mass movement.}}</ref>

The next march, to the burial sites of the three Maguire children, brought 10,000 Protestant and Catholic women together. The marchers, including Maguire and Williams, were physically attacked by IRA members. By the end of the month Maguire and Williams had brought 35,000 people onto the streets of Belfast petitioning for peace between the [[Irish republicanism|republican]] and [[Ulster loyalism|loyalist]] factions.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ramos-Horta |first1=José |last2=Hopkins |first2=Jeffrey |title=The Art of Peace: Nobel Peace Laureates Discuss Human Rights, Conflict and Reconciliation |url=https://archive.org/details/artofpeace00jeff |url-access=registration |access-date=8 March 2011 |year=2000 |publisher=Snow Lion Publications |location=Ithaca, New York |isbn=1-55939-149-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/artofpeace00jeff/page/52 52] |quote=Together, Williams and Maguire organized a peace march of ten thousand Protestant and Catholic women. The marchers were physically assaulted by members of the Irish Republican Army, a violent pro-independence group, who called them dupes of the British. Nonetheless, they succeeded in their trek to the gravesites of the Maguire children. A week later, thirty-five thousand Belfasters marched for peace from a Catholic area of the city to a Protestant area – again led by Williams and Maguire.}}</ref> Initially adopting the name "Women for Peace," the movement changed its name to the gender-neutral "Community of Peace People," or simply "Peace People," when ''[[Irish Press]]'' correspondent Ciaran McKeown joined.<ref>{{cite book |last=Badge |first=Peter |editor-last=Turner |editor-first=Nikolaus |title=Nobel Faces: A Gallery of Nobel Prize Winners |url=https://archive.org/details/nobelfacesgaller00badg |url-access=registration |access-date=9 March 2011 |year=2008 |publisher=Wiley-VCH |location=[[Weinheim]] |isbn=978-3-527-40678-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/nobelfacesgaller00badg/page/474 474] |quote=She and Mairead created the Women for Peace movement, later renamed Community of Peace People after they were joined by Dublin-based journalist and pacifist Ciaran McKeown.}}</ref> In contrast with the prevailing climate at the time,<ref>{{cite book |last=Stiehm |first=Judith |author-link=Judith Stiehm |title=Champions for Peace: Women Winners of the Nobel Peace Prize |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BOSjb9WdyHYC |access-date=9 March 2011 |year=2006 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |location=Maryland |isbn=978-0-7425-4025-5 |pages=70–71 |quote=By that time [McKeown] possessed a developed philosophy of nonviolence and of reconciliation, but the times were becoming unreceptive to that position.}}</ref> Maguire was convinced that the most effective way to end the violence was not through violence but through re-education.<ref>{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of World Biography: Chippendale–Dickinson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1JEYAAAAIAAJ |access-date=9 March 2011 |edition=2 |volume=4 |year=1998 |publisher=[[Gale (publisher)|Gale Research]] |isbn=978-0-7876-2221-3 |quote=Corrigan was convinced that only reeducating the entire populace would stop the killing.}}</ref> The organization published a biweekly paper, Peace by Peace, and provided for families of prisoners a bus service to and from Belfast's jails.<ref name=britannica>{{cite web|title=Máiread Maguire|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/138709/Mairead-Maguire|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=7 November 2013}}</ref> In 1977, she and Betty Williams received the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts.<ref name=1976PeacePrize/> Aged 32 at the time, she was the youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate until [[Malala Yousafzai]] was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014.<ref name="Youngest Nobel Laureates">{{cite web |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/faq/nobel_laureates.html |title=Nobel Laureates – FAQ |publisher=nobelprize.org |access-date=7 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100619082408/http://nobelprize.org/faq/nobel_laureates.html |archive-date=19 June 2010 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>

==After the Nobel Prize (since 1980)==
Though Betty Williams resigned from the Peace People in 1980,<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Bourke |editor-first=Angela |title=The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing: Irish Women's Writings and Traditions |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qZ6W1LiIyYYC |access-date=9 March 2011 |volume=V |year=2002 |publisher=New York University Press |location=New York |isbn=0-8147-9907-8 |page=387 |quote=The movement's popularity was brief and by 1977 was on the wane. Betty Williams resigned from the organization in 1980.}}</ref> Maguire has continued her involvement in the organization to this day and has served as the group's honorary president.<ref name=britannica /> It has since taken on a more global agenda, addressing an array of social and political issues from around the world.

[[File:Mairead Corrigan reunited with her husband.jpg|thumb|alt=Jackie and Mairead|Jackie and Mairead Maguire]]
In January 1980, after a prolonged battle with depression over the loss of her children in the 1976 Finaghy Road incident, Maguire's sister Anne died by suicide.<ref>{{cite news|title=A Belfast Tragedy: Death of a Mother|url=http://www.boston.com/globe/search/stories/nobel/1980/1980as.html|access-date=21 March 2011|newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]]|date=22 January 1980|agency=[[Associated Press]]|quote=The 34-year-old woman was discovered yesterday by one of her two surviving children, 9-year-old Mark. The whereabouts of her husband, Jack, 35, and her surviving daughter were not immediately known.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Tragedy of a Broken Heart|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,954520,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101111053310/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,954520,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 November 2010|access-date=21 March 2011|newspaper=TIME|date=4 February 1980|quote=But for Mrs Maguire herself there was no consolation. She emigrated to New Zealand with her husband Jack in 1977 and there gave birth to a second daughter. She suffered a nervous breakdown, and the homesick family returned to Belfast in less than a year. Perpetual grief led to even more breakdowns-ever deeper mental depression. Last week Anne Maguire finally gave up. She took her own life, slashing her wrists and throat with an electric carving knife.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/people/biography/cpeople.htm |title=CAIN: People: Biographies of Prominent People During 'the Troubles' – C |first=Brendan |last=Lynn |author2=Martin Melaugh |year=1996–2010 |publisher=CAIN Web Service (Conflict Archive on the INternet) |access-date=23 February 2011 |quote=In 1980 Anne Maguire committed suicide and in 1981 Corrigan married her widow, Jackie Maguire.}}</ref> A year and a half later, in September 1981, Mairead married Jackie Maguire, who was her late sister's widower.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dear |first=John |title=A Persistent Peace |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780829427202 |url-access=registration |publisher=Lolyola Press |year=2008 |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780829427202/page/298 298]|isbn=978-0-8294-2720-2 }}</ref> She has three stepchildren and two children of her own, John Francis (b. 1982) and Luke (b. 1984).<ref name="nobelcv" />

In 1981 Maguire co-founded the [[Committee on the Administration of Justice]], a [[nonsectarian]] organisation dedicated to defending human rights.<ref name="nobelcv">{{cite web|title=Mairead Corrigan – Curriculum Vitae|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1976/corrigan-cv.html|work=[[Nobelprize.org]]|access-date=21 March 2011|quote=Mairead was a co-founder of the Committee on the Administration of Justice, a non-sectarian organisation of Northern Ireland which defends human rights and advocates repeal of the government's emergency laws.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Warrior for peace: Mairead Corrigan Maguire|url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/features/warrior-for-peace-mairead-corrigan-maguire-14831409.html|access-date=21 March 2011|newspaper=[[The Belfast Telegraph]]|date=5 June 2010|quote=She co-founded the Committee of the Administration of Justice – a group involved in the debate on legal matters and special laws – and studied at the Irish School of Ecumenics, pursuing inter-faith contact and picking up international awards along the way.}}</ref>

She is a member{{as of?|date=March 2011}} of the [[anti-abortion]] group [[Consistent Life Ethic]],{{third-party-inline|reason=only potentially reliable source is Consistent Life itself|date=March 2011}} which is against abortion, capital punishment and [[euthanasia]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Consistent Life Ethic and the Catholic Tradition|url=http://www.consistent-life.org/cl-catholic.pdf|work=consistent-life.org|publisher=Consistent Life|access-date=22 March 2011|quote=We are an international network of 200 groups and hundreds of individuals. Our member groups and endorsers include...Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Ireland (Nobel Laureate).}}</ref>

Maguire has been involved in a number of campaigns on behalf of political prisoners around the world. In 1993 she and six other Nobel Peace Prize laureates tried unsuccessfully to enter [[Myanmar]] from Thailand to protest the protracted detention of opposition leader [[Aung San Suu Kyi]].<ref>{{cite web|last=D'Albert|first=Dave|title=A Lexicon of Spiritual Leaders in the IFOR Peace Movement, Part 2|url=http://www.ifor.org/resources/Spiritual_Leaders_IFOR_V3_P2.pdf|work=ifor.org|publisher=[[International Fellowship of Reconciliation]]|access-date=18 March 2011|page=24|year=2010|quote=In 1993 she travelled to Thailand with six other Nobel peace laureates in a vain effort to enter Myanmar (Burma) to protest the detention of laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720173102/http://www.ifor.org/resources/Spiritual_Leaders_IFOR_V3_P2.pdf|archive-date=20 July 2011}}</ref> She was a first signatory on a 2008 petition calling on Turkey to end its torture of Kurdish leader [[Abdullah Öcalan]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Freedom for Abdullah Ocalan – Peace in Kurdistan |url=http://www.freedom-for-ocalan.com/english/download/20081017_press_release.pdf |publisher=International Initiative |date=17 October 2008 |access-date=17 January 2011}}</ref> In October 2010, she signed a petition calling on China to release Nobel Peace Prize laureate [[Liu Xiaobo]] from house arrest.<ref>{{cite web |title=15 Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Call on World Leaders to Urge Chinese President Hu Jintao to Release Nobel Peace Prize Laurate Liu Xiaobo and his wife Liu Xia |url=http://www.freedom-now.org/news/15-nobel-peace-prize-laureates-call-on-world-leaders-to-urge-chinese-president-hu-jintao-to-release-nobel-peace-prize-laurate-liu-xiaobo-and-his-wife-liu-xia/ |publisher=Freedom Now |date=25 October 2010 |access-date=17 January 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724192038/http://www.freedom-now.org/news/15-nobel-peace-prize-laureates-call-on-world-leaders-to-urge-chinese-president-hu-jintao-to-release-nobel-peace-prize-laurate-liu-xiaobo-and-his-wife-liu-xia/ |archive-date=24 July 2011 }}</ref>

Maguire was selected in 2003 to serve on the honorary board of the [[International Coalition for the Decade]], a coalition of national and international groups, presided over by [[Christian Renoux]], whose aim was to promote the United Nations' 1998 vision of the first decade of the twenty-first century as the [[International Decade for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Coordination Internationale pour la Décennie – Our Honorary Board|url=http://www.nvpdecade.org/spip.php?rubrique67|work=nvpdecade.org|publisher=[[International Coalition for the Decade]]|access-date=22 March 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719010901/http://www.nvpdecade.org/spip.php?rubrique67|archive-date=19 July 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=International Coalition for the Decade Mid-decade Report|url=http://www3.unesco.org/iycp/Report/coorintEN.pdf|work=unesco.org|publisher=[[International Coalition for the Decade|Coordination Internationale pour la Décennie]]|access-date=24 March 2011|location=Paris|pages=2–3|quote=The International Coalition has created in 2003 an Honorary board that gathers so far seven members: Anwarul K. Chowdhury (Under-Secretary-General and High Representative of the UN), Dalaï Lama (Peace Nobel Prize Laureate), Hildegard GossMayr (Peace Niwano Prize Laureate), Mairead Maguire (Peace Nobel Prize Laureate), Adolfo Pérez Esquivel (Peace Nobel Prize Laureate), Joseph Roblat (Peace Nobel Prize Laureate), Desmond Tutu (Peace Nobel Prize Laureate).|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727205744/http://www3.unesco.org/iycp/Report/coorintEN.pdf|archive-date=27 July 2011}}</ref>

In 2006, Maguire was one of the founders of the [[Nobel Women's Initiative]] along with fellow Peace Prize laureates [[Betty Williams]], [[Shirin Ebadi]], [[Wangari Maathai]], [[Jody Williams]], and [[Rigoberta Menchú Tum]]. The Initiative describes itself as six women representing North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa who decided to bring together their "extraordinary experiences in a united effort for peace with justice and equality" and "to help strengthen work being done in support of women's rights around the world".<ref>{{cite web |title=About Us |url=http://www.nobelwomensinitiative.org/about-us |publisher=Nobel Women's Initiative |access-date=8 July 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081022225346/http://www.nobelwomensinitiative.org/about-us |archive-date=22 October 2008 }}</ref>

Maguire supported the Occupy movement and has described WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as "very courageous". She has also praised [[Chelsea Manning]]. "I think they've been tremendously courageous in telling the truth", she has said, adding that "the American government and NATO have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan. Their next targets will be Syria and Iran".<ref name=progressive />

Together with [[Desmond Tutu]] and [[Adolfo Pérez Esquivel]], Maguire published a letter in support of Chelsea Manning, saying: "The words attributed to Manning reveal that he went through a profound moral struggle between the time he enlisted and when he became a [[whistleblower]]. Through his experience in [[Iraq]], he became disturbed by top-level policy that undervalued human life and caused the suffering of innocent civilians and soldiers. Like other courageous whistleblowers, he was driven foremost by a desire to reveal the truth".<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.thenation.com/article/171272/nobel-laureates-salute-bradley-manning# |title=Nobel Laureates Salute Bradley Manning |magazine=thenation |date=14 November 2012 |access-date=15 February 2013|last1=Tutu |first1=Archbishop Desmond |last2=Maguire |first2=Mairead |last3=Esquivel |first3=Adolfo Pérez }}</ref>

Maguire has also earned a degree from the Irish School of Ecumenics at [[Trinity College Dublin]]. She works with various interchurch and interfaith organizations and is a councilor with the International Peace Council. She is also a Patron of the Methodist Theological College, and of the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education.<ref name="nobel women">{{cite web|title=Mairead Maguire-Northern Ireland, 1976|url=http://nobelwomensinitiative.org/meet-the-laureates/mairead-maguire/|publisher=Nobel Women's Initiative|access-date=11 November 2013|archive-date=11 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111062342/http://nobelwomensinitiative.org/meet-the-laureates/mairead-maguire/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In April 2019 Maguire collected the 2019 ''GUE/NGL Award for Journalists, Whistleblowers & Defenders of the Right to Information'' on behalf of [[Julian Assange]] who was at the time imprisoned by the United Kingdom.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jones |first1=Alan |title=Julian Assange wins EU journalism award |url=https://www.news.com.au/world/breaking-news/julian-assange-wins-eu-journalism-award/news-story/f1bea94a9b040db4f7caa08897f7f6c3 |access-date=17 April 2019 |publisher=Press Association |date=17 April 2019 |archive-date=17 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417051054/https://www.news.com.au/world/breaking-news/julian-assange-wins-eu-journalism-award/news-story/f1bea94a9b040db4f7caa08897f7f6c3 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===United States===
Maguire is an outspoken critic of U.S. and British policy in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan. She was also personally critical of U.S. President [[Barack Obama]]'s leadership. Her activism in the U.S. has occasionally brought her into confrontations with the law.

After initially accepting an invitation to a 2012 Nobel summit in Chicago, she changed her mind because the event was hosted by the U.S. State Department, "and to me the Nobel Peace laureates should not be hosted by a State Department that is continuing with war, removing basic civil liberties and human rights and international law and then talking about peace to young people. That's a double standard".

Maguire said in a 2013 interview that ever since her 40-day fast and arrest outside the White House in 2003 (see below), "whenever I now come into America, I'm always questioned as to what my background is".<ref name=progressive />

In 2015, Maguire spoke with ''[[Democracy Now]]'' in a sit-down interview titled, "No to Violence, Yes to Dialogue", which included two other Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, [[Jody Williams]] and [[Leymah Gbowee]]. Maguire discussed the desire "to end militarism and war, and to build peace and international law and human rights and democracy".<ref>{{cite web|title=No to Violence, Yes to Dialogue: Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mairead Maguire on Path to Peace Today|url=https://www.democracynow.org/2015/4/27/no_to_violence_yes_to_dialogue|publisher=Democracy Now|access-date=15 February 2017}}</ref>

====Iraq and Afghanistan====
Maguire voiced strong opposition to the U.N. [[sanctions against Iraq]], which is alleged by some to have resulted in hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths,<ref name="Michael Powell 1998">{{cite news|author=Michael Powell |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/408416698 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301082833/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/doc/408416698.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Dec%2017,%201998&author=Michael%20Powell&pub=The%20Washington%20Post&edition=&startpage=E.01&desc=The%20Deaths%20He%20Cannot%20Sanction;%20Ex-U.N.%20Worker%20Details%20Harm%20to%20Iraqi%20Children |archive-date=1 March 2014 |title=U.N. worker details harm |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=22 July 2010 |url-status=live |date=17 December 1998 |id={{ProQuest|408416698}} }} [http://www.public.asu.edu/~wellsda/foreignpolicy/Halliday-criticizes-sanctions.html Alt URL]</ref> calling them "unjust and inhuman", "a new kind of bomb", and "even more cruel than weapons".<ref>Abrams (2003), pp. 94, 99.</ref> During a visit to Baghdad with Argentinian colleague [[Adolfo Pérez Esquivel]] in March 1999, Maguire urged then-U.S. President [[Bill Clinton]] and British Prime Minister [[Tony Blair]] to end the bombing of Iraq and to permit the lifting of U.N. sanction. "I have seen children dying with their mothers next to them and not being able to do anything", Maguire said. "They are not soldiers".<ref>{{citation |last=Faleh |first=Waiel |title=Nobel Winners: Give Iraq a Break |via=Associated Press |date=9 March 1999}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Iraq Peace Plea |url=http://www.peacepeople.com/IraqPeacePlea.htm |publisher=The Peace People |access-date=29 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611163812/http://www.peacepeople.com/IraqPeacePlea.htm |archive-date=11 June 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In the aftermath of [[al-Qaeda]]'s attacks on the U.S. in September 2001, as it became clear that the U.S. would retaliate and deploy troops in Afghanistan, Maguire campaigned against the impending war. In India she claimed to have marched with "hundreds of thousands of Indian people walking for peace".<ref>Abrams (2003) pp. 95–96</ref> In New York, Maguire was reported to have marched with 10,000 protesters, purportedly including families of 9/11 victims, as U.S. war planes were already en route to strike [[Taliban]] targets in Afghanistan.<ref>{{cite web |title=New York City protest opposes war in Afghanistan |url=http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/oct2001/nyc-o12.shtml |work=wsws.org |publisher=World Socialist Web Site |date=12 October 2001 |access-date=30 January 2011|quote=Over 10,000 people turned out in New York City on Sunday, October 7 to oppose the Bush administration's so-called war on terrorism". "Speakers at the rally on Broadway included two Nobel Peace Prize winners, Adolfo Perez Esquivel from Argentina and Mairead Maguire from Ireland".}}</ref>

In the period leading up to the March [[2003 invasion of Iraq]], Maguire campaigned vigorously against the anticipated hostilities. Speaking at the 23rd [[War Resisters' International]] Conference in Dublin, Ireland in August 2002, Maguire called on the Irish government to oppose the [[Iraq War]] "in every European and world forum of which they are a part".<ref>{{cite web |title=Peace on the Move |url=http://www3.unesco.org/iycp/uk/uk_nl/nl_uk_ontdit.asp |publisher=UNESCO |access-date=30 January 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727205441/http://www3.unesco.org/iycp/uk/uk_nl/nl_uk_ontdit.asp |archive-date=27 July 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Corrigan Maguire |first=Mairead |title=Act to Save the Children of Iraq |url=http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/2002/08/00_maguire_children.htm |publisher=Nuclear Age Peace Foundation |date=4 August 2002 |access-date=30 January 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031223103420/http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/2002/08/00_maguire_children.htm |archive-date=23 December 2003 }}</ref> On 17 March 2003, St. Patrick's Day, Maguire protested the war outside the United Nations Headquarters with, among other activists, [[Frida Berrigan]]. On 19 March, Maguire addressed an audience of 300 people in a chapel at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y. "Armies with all their advanced [[weapons of mass destruction]] are facing the Iraqi people who have nothing", she told the crowd. "In anybody's language, it's not fair".<ref>{{cite web |last=Cissel |first=Connie |title=She's a Peacemaker |url=http://www.thecatholicsun.com/2003-archives/page-49 |publisher=The Catholic Sun |date=27 March 2003 |access-date=30 January 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716225145/http://www.thecatholicsun.com/2003-archives/page-49 |archive-date=16 July 2011 }}</ref> Around this time, Maguire held a 30-day vigil and began a 40-day liquid fast outside the White House, joined by members of [[Pax Christi]] USA and Christian church leaders. As the war got under way in the days that followed, Maguire described the invasion as an "ongoing and shameful slaughter". "Daily we sit, facing Mecca in solidarity with our Muslim brothers and sisters in Iraq, and we ask Allah for forgiveness", she said in a statement to the press on 31 March.<ref>{{cite web |title=War in Iraq and Anti-war Protests |url=http://www.peacepeople.com/USAVigil.htm |publisher=The Peace People |access-date=30 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721030615/http://www.peacepeople.com/USAVigil.htm |archive-date=21 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>Abrams (2003) p. 97</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Mairead Corrigan Maguire |url=http://www.paxchristi.org.uk/PeacePeople/Corrigan.pdf |publisher=Pax Christi |access-date=30 January 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721103815/http://www.paxchristi.org.uk/PeacePeople/Corrigan.pdf |archive-date=21 July 2011 }}</ref> Maguire would later remark that the media in the U.S. distorted news from Iraq and that the Iraq War was carried out in pursuit of American "economic and military interests".<ref>Abrams (2003) pp. 96–97</ref> In February 2006 she expressed her belief that [[George W. Bush]] and [[Tony Blair]] "should be made accountable for illegally taking the world to war and for war crimes against humanity".<ref>{{cite web |last=Corrigan-Maguire |first=Mairead |title=A Right to Live Without Violence, Nuclear Weapons and War |url=http://www.nobelwomensinitiative.org/search/results/article/a-right-to-live-without-violence-nuclear-weapons-and-war |publisher=Nobel Women's Initiative |date=21 February 2006 |access-date=28 January 2011 |archive-date=21 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721000405/http://www.nobelwomensinitiative.org/search/results/article/a-right-to-live-without-violence-nuclear-weapons-and-war |url-status=dead }}</ref>

====Criticism of President Barack Obama====
Maguire expressed disappointment with the selection of U.S. President Barack Obama as winner of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. "They say this is for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples", she said, "and yet he continues the policy of militarism and occupation of Afghanistan, instead of dialogue and negotiations with all the parties to the conflict. [...] Giving this award to the leader of the most militarised country in the world, which has taken the human family against its will to war, will rightly be seen by many people around the world as a reward for his country's aggression and domination".<ref>{{cite web |title=Nobel Peace Laureate: Obama Choice 'Disappointing' |url=http://www.accuracy.org/newsrelease.php?articleId=2095 |publisher=[[Institute for Public Accuracy]] |date=9 October 2009 |access-date=9 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091023052433/http://accuracy.org/newsrelease.php?articleId=2095 |archive-date=23 October 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

After declining to meet with the [[14th Dalai Lama|Dalai Lama]] during his visit to the U.S. in 2008, citing conflicting travel schedules,<ref>{{cite wikisource |title=Barack Obama's Letter to the Dalai Lama |author=Barack Obama |date=24 July 2008}}</ref> Obama declined to meet with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader again in 2009. Maguire condemned what she considered Obama's deliberate refusal to meet with the Dalai Lama, calling it "horrifying".<ref>{{cite web |last=Devraj |first=Ranjit |title=Rising China Poses Danger to Peace, Say Nobel Laureates |url=http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49087 |publisher=Inter Press Service (IPS) |date=31 October 2009 |access-date=30 January 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612142529/http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49087 |archive-date=12 June 2010 }}</ref>

Speaking at the [[Carl von Ossietzky Medal]] Award Ceremony in Berlin in December 2010, Maguire imputed criminal accountability to President Obama for violation of international law. "When President Obama says he wants to see a world without nuclear weapons and says, in respect of Iran and their alleged nuclear weapons ambitions, that 'all option {{sic|date=March 2011}} are on the table,' this is clearly a threat to use nuclear weapons, clearly a criminal threat against Iran, under the world court advisory opinion. The [[Nuremberg Charter]] of 8 August 1945 says the threat or use of nuclear weapons is criminal, so officials in all nine nuclear weapons states who maintain and use nuclear deterrence as a threat are committing crimes and breaking international law".<ref>{{cite web |title=Speech by Nobel Laureate Mairead Maguire During the Carl-von-Ossietzky Medal Award Ceremony Berlin 12th December 2010 |url=http://www.nobelforpeace-summits.org/speech-by-nobel-laureate-mairead-maguire-during-the-carl-von-ossietzky-medal-award-ceremony-berlin-12th-december-2010/ |publisher=World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates |access-date=30 January 2011 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110114222450/http://www.nobelforpeace-summits.org/speech-by-nobel-laureate-mairead-maguire-during-the-carl-von-ossietzky-medal-award-ceremony-berlin-12th-december-2010/ |archive-date=14 January 2011 }}</ref>

====Confrontations with the law====
Maguire was twice arrested in the United States. On 17 March 2003, she was arrested outside the United Nations headquarters in New York City during a protest against the Iraq War. Later that month, on 27 March, she was one of 65 anti-war protesters briefly taken into custody by police after penetrating a security barricade near the White House.<ref>{{cite web |title=Protest Arrests Include Nobel Winners, Ellsberg |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-mar-27-war-briefs27.2-story.html |work=The Los Angeles Times |date=27 March 2003 |access-date=14 October 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=War on Iraq and Anti-war Protests |url=http://www.peacepeople.com/USAVigil.htm |publisher=The Peace People |date=3 April 2003 |access-date=31 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721030615/http://www.peacepeople.com/USAVigil.htm |archive-date=21 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In May 2009, following a visit to Guatemala, immigration authorities at the Houston Airport in Texas detained Maguire for a number of hours, during which time she was questioned, fingerprinted and photographed, and consequently missed her connecting flight to Northern Ireland. "They insisted I must tick the box in the Immigration form admitting to criminal activities," she explained.<ref>{{cite web |title=Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire Detained by USA Homeland Security |url=http://www.nobelwomensinitiative.org/images/stories/Mairead_Maguire_Detained.pdf |publisher=Nobel Women's Initiative |access-date=31 January 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110223234424/http://www.nobelwomensinitiative.org/images/stories/Mairead_Maguire_Detained.pdf |archive-date=23 February 2011 }}</ref> In late July that same year, Maguire was again detained by immigration authorities, this time at the Dulles International Airport in Virginia, on her way from Ireland to New Mexico to meet with colleague [[Jody Williams]]. As in May, the delay resulted in Maguire missing her connecting flight.<ref>{{cite web |last=Wright |first=Ann |title=Could U.S. Officials Please Treat a Nobel Peace Laureate with Respect? |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ann-wright/could-us-officials-please_b_266891.html |work=The Huffington Post |date=24 August 2009 |access-date=31 January 2011}}</ref>

===Israel===
Maguire first visited Israel at age 40 in 1984. She came then as part of an interfaith initiative seeking forgiveness from Jews for years of persecution by Christians in Jesus' name. Her second visit was in June 2000, this time in response to invitations from [[Rabbis for Human Rights]] and the [[Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions]]. The two groups had taken upon themselves to defend Ahmed Shamasneh in an Israeli military court against charges of illegally constructing his home in the West Bank town of [[Qatanna]], and Maguire traveled to Israel to observe the court proceedings and support the Shamasneh family.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.interfaithstudies.org/peace/maguire.html |title=From Northern Ireland to Israel and Palestine |first=Eeta |last=Prince-Gibson |year=2000 |work=Jerusalem Post (via peacecouncil.org) |access-date=6 February 2011 |quote=Two weeks ago, Maíread Maguire, 1976 Nobel Peace Prize laureate from Northern Ireland, visited Israel and the Palestinian Territories as a representative of the Peace Council. Invited by Rabbis for Human Rights and the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, she came to observe the trial of Ahmed Shamasneh, who was charged with illegally building his home. It was Maguire's second trip to Israel. Ten years ago, she came to fast and pray in repentance for what Christians have done to Jews in Jesus's name. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725012218/http://www.interfaithstudies.org/peace/maguire.html |archive-date=25 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.peacecouncil.org/israel_news.html |title=&#91;From ''Report from the Peace Council'', Fall, 2000&#93; |year=2000 |publisher=International Committee for the Peace Council |access-date=6 February 2011 |quote=On very short notice Peace Councilor Máiread Maguire agreed to attend the June, 2000 trial in an Israeli military court of Ahmed (Abu Faiz) Shamasneh, a Palestinian grandfather accused of illegally building a home for his family, and the result was a flood of stories in Israeli, Palestinian, and European newspapers, television, and radio about the case and about the plight of Palestinians who are not able to provide legal housing for their families. [The photo shows Máiread Maguire being briefed by Phil Halper of the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions. Eetta Prince-Gibson, author of the following article, is in the foreground.]}}</ref>

In a 2013 interview, she omitted any mention of her 1984 trip to Israel, saying that "I first went to Israel/Palestine at the invitation of Rabbis for Human Rights and the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions" and "was absolutely horrified" at Palestinians' living conditions. It was after that visit that she "started going on a regular basis" because she was "very hopeful that there is a solution to the Israeli/Palestinian injustice. In Northern Ireland, people said there would never be a solution. But once people begin to have the political will and force their governments to sit down, it can happen".<ref name=progressive />
Maguire has at times been fiercely critical of the State of Israel, even calling for its membership in the United Nations to be revoked or suspended.<ref>{{cite news |title=Nobel laureate Maguire: UN should suspend Israel membership |url=https://www.haaretz.com/news/nobel-laureate-maguire-un-should-suspend-israel-membership-1.257569 |work=[[Haaretz]] |date=20 November 2008 |agency=[[Associated Press]]|access-date=4 October 2010 |quote=Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire said Thursday the United Nations should suspend or revoke Israel's membership.}}</ref> She has accused the Israeli government of "carrying out a policy of ethnic cleansing against Palestinians...in east Jerusalem"<ref>{{cite news|title=Nobel laureate accuses Israel of 'ethnic cleansing'|url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hdEkp3D-8KcTN-AQm4t7lk3MfsJw|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111220134908/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hdEkp3D-8KcTN-AQm4t7lk3MfsJw|url-status=dead|archive-date=20 December 2011|access-date=27 March 2011|newspaper=[[Google News]]|date=22 April 2009|agency=[[Agence France-Presse|AFP]]|quote='I believe the Israeli government is carrying out a policy of ethnic cleansing against Palestinians here in east Jerusalem', said Maguire, who won the 1976 Nobel prize for her efforts at reaching a peaceful solution to the violence in Northern Ireland.}}</ref> and supports [[Boycotts of Israel|boycott and divestment]] initiatives against Israel.<ref>{{cite web|last=Maguire|first=Mairead|title=Saving Succeeding Generations from the Scourge of War|url=http://www.action-for-un-renewal.org.uk/speeches/ERSKINE%20CHILDERS%20LECTURE%202009.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726112630/http://www.action-for-un-renewal.org.uk/speeches/ERSKINE%20CHILDERS%20LECTURE%202009.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 July 2011|work=action-for-un-renewal.org.uk|publisher=Action for UN Renewal|access-date=27 March 2011|date=18 February 2009|quote=I would encourage people to support the Boycott/Divestment campaign against Israel until they start to uphold their obligations under International law and give human rights and justice to the Palestinians.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Mairead Maguire Speech at Sabeel 7th International Conference|url=http://www.fosna.org/content/mairead-maguire-speech-sabeel-7th-international-conference|work=fosna.org|publisher=[[List of Palestinian solidarity organizations|Friends of Sabeel – North America]]|access-date=27 March 2011|date=19 November 2008|quote=As part of this non-violent civil resistance struggle, I support the Divestment/Disinvestment Campaign and the Campaign to end USA's military support ($10&nbsp;million dollars per day) to Israel which helps funds the military occupation of Palestine and other moves for Boycott.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726022944/http://www.fosna.org/content/mairead-maguire-speech-sabeel-7th-international-conference|archive-date=26 July 2011}}</ref> Concomitantly, Maguire has also said that she loves Israel<ref>{{cite news|title=האם כלת פרס נובל לשלום תורשה להיכנס לישראל?|url=http://www.mako.co.il/news-law/legal/Article-7e62ec293767b21004.htm|access-date=27 March 2011|newspaper=[[Keshet (TV)|Mako]]|date=4 October 2010|author=Yossi Zilberman|author2=Amit Waldman|agency=[[Israeli News Company]]|language=he|trans-title=Will the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Be Allowed to Enter Israel?|quote=אני מקווה שבית המשפט יאשר לי להישאר, יש לי חברים רבים ישראלים ופלסטינים", אמרה מגוויר לכתבים הרבים שהתעניינו הבוקר במצבה. כשנשאלה מדוע היא רוצה להיכנס לארץ ענתה שהיא אוהבת את המדינה ו"עצובה שיש כאן כל כך הרבה סבל".}}</ref><ref>{{cite video |people=Yossi Zilberman (reporter), Amit Waldman (reporter) |date=4 October 2010 |title=פעילת השלום האירית לא תיכנס לישראל" "(Irish Peace Activist Will Not Enter Israel) |url=http://www.mako.co.il/news-law/legal/Article-e3e4de64a887b21004.htm |language=he, en |publisher=[[Keshet (TV)|Mako]] |location=Israel |time=00:05:05 |quote=(Why did you come here?)" "Because I love this country and I'm very sad there's so much suffering.}}</ref> and that "to live in Israel for Jewish people, is to live in fear of suicide bombs and Kassam rockets".<ref>{{cite web|title=Mairead Corrigan Maguire Calls for an End to 40 Years of Israeli Occupation in Palestine|url=http://www.nobelwomensinitiative.org/search/results/article/mairead-corrigan-maguire-calls-for-an-end-to-40-years-of-israeli-occupation-in-palestine|work=nobelwomensinitiative.org|publisher=Nobel Women's Initiative|access-date=27 March 2011|date=9 June 2007|quote=Also to live in Israel for Jewish people, is to live in fear of suicide bombs and Kassam rockets. We all know violence begets violence and is never excusable or acceptable, and all violent activities from Palestinian paramilitaries must cease if there is to be any hope for peace.|archive-date=21 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721000613/http://www.nobelwomensinitiative.org/search/results/article/mairead-corrigan-maguire-calls-for-an-end-to-40-years-of-israeli-occupation-in-palestine|url-status=dead}}</ref>

A 2013 profile of Maguire in The Progressive noted that "she hasn't lost her passion yet" and that "it is the Israeli occupation of Palestine that has occupied much of her attention in recent years".<ref name= progressive />

====Mordechai Vanunu advocacy====
Maguire has been a vocal supporter of [[Mordechai Vanunu]], a former Israeli nuclear technician who revealed details of Israel's nuclear defence program to the British press in 1986 and subsequently served 18 years in prison for treason.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/apr/21/israel3 |title=Vanunu released after 18 years |date=21 April 2004 |work=The Guardian |access-date=22 February 2011 |quote=Among Mr Vanunu's supporters were British actress Susannah York and Nobel peace prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire of Northern Ireland.}}</ref> Maguire flew to Israel in April 2004 to greet Vanunu upon his release<ref>{{cite web |title=Israel frees nuclear whistleblower Vanunu |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2004-04-21-israeli-spy-released_x.htm |work=[[USA Today]] (AP) |date=21 April 2004 |access-date=8 July 2009}}</ref> and has since flown to meet with him in Israel on several occasions.

Maguire has described as "draconian" the terms of Vanunu's parole – including a special order prohibiting contact with foreign journalists and a refusal to allow him to leave Israel – and said he "remains a virtual prisoner".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.counterpunch.org/maguire09162006.html |title=A Visit with Mordechai Vanunu |first=Mairead |last=Corrigan Maguire |date=16–17 September 2006 |publisher=counterpunch |access-date=22 February 2011 |quote=Upon his release, the Israeli Government imposed draconian restrictions on his freedom. He is forbidden to speak to foreigners or to foreign press or to leave Israel. Each year for the past two years, on the 21st of April, these restrictions have been renewed and Vanunu remains a virtual prisoner, living within a couple of square miles of East Jerusalem and under constant security surveillance everywhere he goes. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110317171909/http://www.counterpunch.org/maguire09162006.html |archive-date=17 March 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> In an open letter addressed to the Israeli people in July 2010, after Vanunu was returned to prison for violating the terms of his parole, Maguire urged Jews in Israel to petition their government for Vanunu's release and freedom. She praised Vanunu as "a man of peace", "a great visionary", "a true Gandhian spirit" and compared his actions to those of [[Alfred Nobel]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.peacepeople.com/dynamic_news.php?id=27 |title=An Open Letter to the People of Israel about Mordechai Vanunu |first=Mairead |last=Maguire |date=14 July 2010 |publisher=Peace People |access-date=22 February 2011 |quote=I have met Mordechai many times since he was released from prison on 21st April, 2004. He is a good man, a man of peace, and a true Gandhian spirit. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715062253/http://www.peacepeople.com/dynamic_news.php?id=27 |archive-date=15 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

====References to the Holocaust====
At a joint press conference with Mordechai Vanunu in Jerusalem in December 2004, Maguire compared Israel's nuclear weapons to the Nazi gas chambers in [[Auschwitz]]. "When I think about nuclear weapons, I've been to Auschwitz concentration camp". She added, "Nuclear weapons are only gas chambers perfected ... and for a people who already know what gas chambers are, how can you even think of building perfect gas chambers".<ref>{{cite news |title=Nobel laureate compares Israeli nuclear arms to gas chambers |url=https://www.haaretz.com/news/nobel-laureate-compares-israeli-nuclear-arms-to-gas-chambers-1.144503 |work=Haaretz |agency=AP |date=19 December 2004 |access-date=1 July 2010}}</ref>

In January 2006, close to [[Holocaust Memorial Day]], Maguire asked that Mordechai Vanunu be remembered together with the Jews that perished in the Holocaust. "As we, with sorrow and sadness, remember the Holocaust Victims, we remember too those individuals of conscience who refused to be silenced in the face of danger and paid with their freedom and lives in defending their Jewish brothers and sisters, and we remember our brother Mordechai Vanunu – the lonely Israeli prisoner in his own country, who refused to be silent".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/2006/01/00_maguire_lonely-israeli-prisoner.htm |title=The Lonely Israeli Prisoner – Mordechai Vanunu |first=Mairead |last=Maguire |date=January 2006 |publisher=Nuclear Age Peace Foundation |access-date=22 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101202181706/http://wagingpeace.org/articles/2006/01/00_maguire_lonely-israeli-prisoner.htm |archive-date=2 December 2010 }}</ref>

In a speech delivered in February 2006 to the [[Nuclear Age Peace Foundation]] in Santa Barbara, California, Maguire again made a comparison between nuclear weapons and the Nazis. "Last April some of us protested at Dimona Nuclear Plant, in Israel, calling for it to be open to UN Inspection, and bombs to be destroyed. Israeli Jets flew overhead, and a train passed into the Dimona nuclear site. This brought back to me vivid memories of my visit to Auschwitz concentration camp, with its rail tracks, trains, destruction and death".<ref>{{cite web |title=Nobel Women's Initiative – a Right to Live without Violence, Nuclear Weapons and War |url=http://www.nobelwomensinitiative.org/about-us/laureates/article/a-right-to-live-without-violence-nuclear-weapons-and-war |publisher=Nobelwomensinitiative.org |date=21 February 2006 |access-date=1 July 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721000302/http://www.nobelwomensinitiative.org/about-us/laureates/article/a-right-to-live-without-violence-nuclear-weapons-and-war |archive-date=21 July 2011 }}</ref>

Maguire firmly denied comparing Israel to Nazi Germany in an interview with Tal Schneider of ''[[Globes (newspaper)|Lady Globes]]'' in November 2010. "I have for years been speaking out against nuclear weapons. I am actively opposed to nuclear weapons in Britain, in the United States, in Israel, in any country, because nuclear weapons are the ultimate destruction of humankind. But I have never said that Israel is like Nazi Germany, and I don't know why I am quoted like that in Israel. I also never compared Gaza to an extermination camp. I visited the death camps in Austria, with Nobel Prize laureate Elie Wiesel, and I think it is terrible that people did not try to stop the genocide of the Jewish people".<ref>{{cite news |script-title=he:כלות פרס נובל: 'ישראל מדינת אפרטהייד, מפעילה טיהור אתני' |first=Tal |last=Schneider |url=http://www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?did=1000598551 |newspaper=[[Globes (newspaper)|Lady Globes]] |publisher=[[Globes (newspaper)|Globes]] |date=10 November 2011 |access-date=11 March 2011 |language=he |trans-title=Nobel Prize laureate: 'Israel is an apartheid state, engages in ethnic cleansing' |quote=אני שנים מדברת נגד נשק גרעיני. אני אקטיביסטית נגד נשק גרעיני בבריטניה, בארה"ב, בישראל, בכל מדינה, כי נשק גרעיני הוא ההרס האולטימטיבי של האנושות. אבל אני מעולם לא אמרתי שישראל היא כמו גרמניה הנאצית, ואני לא יודעת למה מצטטים אותי כך בישראל. גם לא השוויתי בין עזה לבין מחנה השמדה. אני ביקרתי במחנות ההשמדה באוסטריה, ביחד עם חתן פרס נובל אלי ויזל, ואני חושבת שזה נורא שאנשים לא ניסו לעצור את רצח העם היהודי.}}</ref>

====Palestinian activism====
Maguire said in a 2007 speech that Israel's [[Israeli West Bank barrier|separation wall]] "is a monument to fear and failed politics" and that "for many Palestinians daily living is so hard, it is indeed an act of resistance." She praised the "inspirational work of the International Solidarity Movement" and paid tribute to the memory of "[[Rachel Corrie]], who gave her life protesting the demolition of Palestinian homes by Israeli military", saying that "it is the Rachels of this world who reminds us that we are responsible for each other, and we are interconnected in a mysteriously spiritual and beautiful way".<ref>{{cite web|title=Mairead Corrigan Maguire: Nobel Peace Laureate Shot with Israeli Rubber-coated Steel Bullet |date=26 April 2007|url=http://blog.beliefnet.com/godspolitics/2007/04/mairead-corrigan-maguire-nobel-peace.html|publisher=God's Politics|access-date=25 November 2013}}</ref>

On 20 April 2007, Maguire participated in a protest against the construction of Israel's separation barrier outside the Palestinian village of [[Bil'in]]. The protest was held in a no-access military zone. Israeli forces used tear-gas grenades and rubber-coated bullets in an effort to disperse the protesters, while the protesters hurled rocks at the Israeli troops, injuring two Border Guard policemen. One rubber bullet hit Maguire in the leg, whereupon she was transferred to an Israeli hospital for treatment. She was also reported to have inhaled large quantities of tear gas.<ref>{{cite news |first=Ali |last=Waked |title=Nobel peace laureate Corrigan injured in anti-fence protest |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3390314,00.html |newspaper=[[Ynetnews]] |date=20 April 2007|access-date=8 July 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Justin |last=Morahan |title=Palestine: IDF Shoots Irish Peace Prize Winner With Rubber Bullets |url=http://www.indymedia.ie/article/82119 |publisher=[[Indymedia Ireland]] |date=23 April 2007 |access-date=8 July 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=End the Occupation Now |first=Mairead |last=Corrigan Maguire |url=http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/26/770/ |publisher=[[Common Dreams NewsCenter|Common Dreams]] |date=26 April 2007 |access-date=8 July 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090714080554/http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/26/770 |archive-date=14 July 2009 }}</ref>

In October 2008, Maguire arrived in Gaza aboard the SS ''Dignity''. Although Israel had insisted that the yacht would not be permitted to approach Gaza, then-Prime Minister [[Ehud Olmert]] ultimately capitulated and allowed the ship to sail to its destination without incident.<ref>{{cite web |last= Khalil |first=Ashraf |title=Protesters' boat arrives in Gaza |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-oct-30-fg-gaza30-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=30 October 2008 |access-date=24 January 2011}}</ref> During her stay in Gaza, Maguire met with [[Hamas]] leader [[Ismail Haniyeh]]. She was photographed accepting an honorary golden plate depicting the Palestinian flag draped over all of Israel and the occupied territories.<ref>{{cite web|title=Photo from Getty Images |url=http://www.daylife.com/photo/0cH4bflbtFfPv |publisher=Daylife.com |date=October 2008 |access-date=14 October 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318075201/http://www.daylife.com/photo/0cH4bflbtFfPv |archive-date=18 March 2012 }}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20091022080316/http://news.bbc.co.uk/newswatch/ukfs/hi/newsid_6040000/newsid_6044000/6044090.stm Israel and the Palestinians: Key terms], BBC</ref>

In March 2009, Maguire joined a campaign for the immediate and unconditional removal of [[Hamas]] from the [[List of organisations designated as terrorist organisations by the European Union|European Union list of proscribed terrorist organisations]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Removal of Hamas from the EU Terror List |url=http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article22138.htm |publisher=Information Clearing House |date=2 March 2009 |access-date=24 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091229194150/http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article22138.htm |archive-date=29 December 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:Huwaida and Mairead on Spirit of Humanity.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Huwaida Arraf and Mairead Maguire aboard the MV Spirit of Humanity, June 2009|[[Huwaida Arraf]] and Maguire, 2009]]
On 30 June 2009, Maguire was taken into custody by the Israeli military along with twenty others, including former U.S. Congresswoman [[Cynthia McKinney]]. She was on board a small ferry, the MV ''Spirit of Humanity'' (formerly the ''Arion''), said to be carrying humanitarian aid to the [[Gaza Strip]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Israel navy intercepts boat with ex-U.S. Rep. McKinney|publisher=CNN|date=30 June 2009|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/06/30/israel.gaza.mckinney/|access-date=25 August 2013}}</ref> when Israel intercepted the vessel off the coast of Gaza. From an Israeli prison, she gave a lengthy interview with [[Democracy Now!]] via cell phone,<ref>{{cite web |title=Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire Speaks from Israeli Jail Cell After Arrest on Boat Delivering Humanitarian Aid to Gaza |url=http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/2/nobel_peace_laureate_mairead_maguire_speaks |work=[[Democracy Now!]] |date=2 July 2009|access-date=8 July 2009}}</ref> and was deported on 7 July 2009 to Dublin.<ref>{{cite news |first=Michael |last=Jansen |title=Israel deports Nobel laureate |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0707/1224250170719.html |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=7 July 2009 |access-date=8 July 2009 |archive-date=3 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110503154748/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0707/1224250170719.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> on 2 July 2009. In the interview, she rejected Israeli authorities' claim that aid can pass freely into Gaza, charging that "Gaza is like a huge prison...a huge occupied territory of one-and-a-half million people who have been subjected to collective punishment by the Israeli government". She further said that "the tragedy is that the American government, the UN and Europe, they remain silent in the face of the abuse of Palestinian human rights, like freedom, and it's really tragic". In addition, she claimed that when her boat was approached by Israeli naval vessels in international waters, "we were in grave danger of actually being killed at that point....really we were in a very, very dangerous position. So we were literally hijacked, taken at gunpoint by the Israeli military".<ref>{{cite web|title=Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire Speaks from Israeli Jail Cell After Arrest on Boat Delivering Humanitarian Aid to Gaza|url=http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/2/nobel_peace_laureate_mairead_maguire_speaks|publisher=Democracy Now|access-date=25 November 2013|date=2 July 2009}}</ref>

In May–June 2010, Maguire was a passenger on board the [[MV Rachel Corrie|MV ''Rachel Corrie'']], one of seven vessels that were part of the [[2010 Gaza Freedom Flotilla|Gaza Freedom Flotilla]], a flotilla of pro-Palestinian activists that attempted to bust the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the Gaza Strip. In an interview with BBC Radio Ulster while still at sea, Maguire called the blockade an "inhumane, illegal siege."<ref>{{cite web |title=Irish aid ship expects Israelis to board vessel |publisher=BBC |date=2 June 2010 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10212345 |access-date=29 December 2010}}</ref> Having been delayed due to mechanical problems, the ''Rachel Corrie'' did not actually sail with the flotilla and only approached the Gazan coast several days after the main flotilla did. In contrast with [[2010 Gaza flotilla raid|the violence]] that characterised the arrival of the first six ships, [[Gaza journey of MV Rachel Corrie|Israel's takeover of the ''Rachel Corrie'']] was met only with passive resistance. Israeli naval forces were even lowered a ladder by the passengers to assist their ascent onto the deck.<ref>{{cite news |last=Meranda |first=Amnon |title=Seized ship enters Ashdod Port |newspaper=Ynetnews |publisher=Ynet |date=6 June 2010 |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3899313,00.html |access-date=29 December 2010}}</ref> After the incident, Maguire said she did not feel her life was in danger as the ship's captain, Derek Graham, had been in touch with the Israeli navy to assure them that there would be no violent resistance.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rachel Corrie activists 'relieved' to be home |publisher=RTÉ |date=8 June 2010 |url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0607/rachelcorrie.html |access-date=29 December 2010}}</ref>

On 28 September 2010, Maguire landed in Israel as part of a delegation of the [[Nobel Women's Initiative]]. She was refused an entry visa by Israeli authorities on the grounds that she had twice in the past tried to run Israel's naval embargo of the Gaza Strip and that a 10-year exclusion order was in effect against her.<ref>{{cite news |title=Irish Nobel laureate challenges Israeli detention |url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gXp6fvvgQLELYgmlMBK-EaQ8A1WQD9IKDA000?docId=D9IKDA000 |agency=Associated Press |date=3 October 2010 |access-date=7 October 2010}}{{dead link|date=June 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Supreme Court rejects Maguire's appeal |newspaper=Ynetnews |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3964109,00.html |publisher=Ynet News |date=4 October 2010 |access-date=7 October 2010|last1=Glickman |first1=Aviad }}</ref> She fought her deportation with the help of [[Adalah (legal center)|Adalah]], an NGO devoted to the rights of Palestinians in Israel. Fatmeh El-Ajou, an attorney for Adalah noted, "We believe that the decision to refuse entry to Ms. Maguire is based on illegitimate, irrelevant, and arbitrary political considerations".<ref>{{cite web|last=Guarnieri|first=Mya|title=Nobel Peace Prize Winner Detained in Israel|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mya-guarnieri/nobel-peace-prize-winner_b_741692.html|work=The Huffington Post|access-date=27 November 2013|date=28 September 2010}}</ref> Her legal team filed a petition against the order with the Central District Court on Maguire's behalf, but the court ruled pronounced that the deportation order was valid. Maguire then appealed to [[Supreme Court of Israel|Israel's Supreme Court]]. Initially, the Court proposed that Maguire be allowed to remain in the country for a few days on bail despite the deportation order; however, the state rejected the proposal, arguing that Maguire had known prior to her arrival she was barred from entering Israel and that her conduct amounted to taking the law into her own hands. A three-judge panel accepted the state's position and upheld the ruling of the Central District Court. At one point during the hearing, Maguire reportedly spoke up, saying that Israel must stop "its apartheid policy and the siege on Gaza". One of the judges scolded her saying, "This is no place for propaganda". Corrigan-Maguire was deported on a flight to the UK the following morning, 5 October 2010.<ref>{{cite web |title=Irish Nobel winner Maguire boards flight out of Israel |url=https://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=190263 |work=[[Jerusalem Post]] |date=5 October 2010 |access-date=7 October 2010}}</ref>

As preparations for a [[Freedom Flotilla II|second Gaza flotilla]] got underway in the summer of 2011, with the Irish MV Saoirse expected to take part, Maguire expressed her support for the campaign and called on Israel to grant the flotilla passengers safe passage to Gaza.<ref>{{cite news|last=Reilly|first=Gavan|title=Nobel laureate appeals for safe passage for Gaza flotilla|url=http://www.thejournal.ie/nobel-laureate-appeals-for-safe-passage-for-gaza-flotilla-163326-Jun2011/|access-date=26 June 2011|newspaper=The Journal.ie|date=25 June 2011|quote=One of Ireland's former Nobel peace laureates has urged the Israeli government not to pursue violence against the people sailing on a second aid flotilla to Gaza at the end of the month.}}</ref>

Maguire said in a December 2011 interview that "Hamas is an elected party and should be recognized as such by all. It has the democratic vote and should be recognised". She pointed out that on her 2008 Gaza trip she had been invited to speak "to the Hamas parliament".<ref>{{cite web|last=Chehata|first=Dr. Hanan|title=Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire speaks to MEMO about Palestine, political prisoners and nuclear weapons|url=http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/resources/interviews/3126-nobel-peace-laureate-mairead-maguire-speaks-to-memo-about-palestine-political-prisoners-and-nuclear-weapons|work=Middle East Monitor|access-date=25 November 2013|date=1 December 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204034601/https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/resources/interviews/3126-nobel-peace-laureate-mairead-maguire-speaks-to-memo-about-palestine-political-prisoners-and-nuclear-weapons|archive-date=4 December 2013}}</ref>
In March 2014, Maguire tried to arrive to Gaza through Egypt, as a part of activist delegation which also included the American anti-war activist [[Medea Benjamin]]. The members of the delegation were arrested in Cairo, questioned and deported.<ref>{{cite news|last=al-Atrush|first=Samer|title=Egypt bars Gaza-bound Irish Nobel Peace Laureate Maguire|url=https://news.yahoo.com/egypt-bars-irish-nobel-peace-laureate-maguire-164535636.html|access-date=13 March 2014|newspaper=Yahoo News|date=5 March 2014}}</ref>

In 2016, Maguire attempted to break Israel's naval blockade of the Gaza Strip along with 13 other activists on board the Women's Boat to Gaza,<ref>{{cite web |title= Participants on Board: Messina to Gaza |url=https://wbg.freedomflotilla.org/participants-on-board-messina-to-gaza |date= 5 October 2016 |access-date=20 February 2020}}</ref> until they were stopped by the [[Israeli Navy]] approximately {{Convert|40|miles|km|abbr=}} offshore. The boat was escorted to the port of Ashdod. The Israeli military said the interception was brief and without injuries. Maguire complained that she and the activists were "arrested, kidnapped, illegally, in international waters and taken against our wishes to Israel".<ref>{{cite web|title=Israel intercepts protest vessel trying to break naval blockade of Gaza|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/05/israel-intercepts-protest-vessel-trying-to-break-naval-blockade-of-gaza|work=The Guardian|date=5 October 2016|access-date=16 February 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Nobel peace laureate Mairead Maguire: Israeli forces kidnapped me in international waters|newspaper=Belfasttelegraph|url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/nobel-peace-laureate-mairead-maguire-israeli-forces-kidnapped-me-in-international-waters-35110831.html|publisher=Belfast Telegraph|access-date=15 February 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Young|first1=Connla|title=Nobel peace prize winner Mairead Corrigan 'kidnapped' by Israeli forces|date=6 October 2016|url=http://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2016/10/07/news/nobel-peace-prize-winner-mairead-corrigan-kidnapped-by-israeli-forces-724178/|publisher=The Irish News|access-date=15 February 2017}}</ref>

===Comparison of Palestinians and Israelis===
Maguire has more than once suggested that Palestinians are more interested in peace than the Israeli government. She said in a 2011 interview that when she and some colleagues left Gaza in 2008, "we were very hopeful because there is a passionate desire among the Palestinian people for peace, and then Operation Cast Lead started the following week. That was horrific". Israel, she said, had killed Palestinian farmers and fishermen who were just "trying to fish for their families", thus proving "that the Israeli government does not want peace".<ref>{{cite web|last=Chehata|first=Dr. Hanan|title=Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire speaks to MEMO about Palestine, political prisoners and nuclear weapons|url=http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/resources/interviews/3126-nobel-peace-laureate-mairead-maguire-speaks-to-memo-about-palestine-political-prisoners-and-nuclear-weapons|publisher=Middle East Monitor|access-date=30 November 2013|date=1 December 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204034601/https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/resources/interviews/3126-nobel-peace-laureate-mairead-maguire-speaks-to-memo-about-palestine-political-prisoners-and-nuclear-weapons|archive-date=4 December 2013}}</ref> In a 2013 interview, she repeated the same point, saying that in Gaza in 2008, she had been told by Hamas and Fatah leaders "that they want dialogue and peace", yet a week later "Israel bombed Gaza, committing war crimes", showing "that there is no political will for peace in the Israeli government".<ref name=progressive />

=== Russell Tribunal===
In October 2012, Maguire traveled to New York City to serve on the [[Russell Tribunal]] on Israel/Palestine alongside writer [[Alice Walker]], activist [[Angela Davis]], former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, and Pink Floyd's Roger Waters.<ref name=progressive /> During her participation in the Russell Tribunal, Maguire, according to one report, "asked the question that seems to be taboo in the U.S.: Why does President Barack Obama allow Israel to threaten Iran with war when Iran has signed the NPT and Israel has at least 200 nuclear weapons? Why does the president not demand that Israel sign the NPT?"<ref name=russel>{{cite web|last=Adas|first=Jane|title=Russell Tribunal on Palestine Examines Roles of U.N. and U.S.|url=http://www.wrmea.org/wrmea-archives/541-washington-report-archives-2011-2015/january-february-2013/11612-russell-tribunal-on-palestine-examines-roles-of-u-n-and-u-s.html|access-date=30 November 2013|year=2013}}</ref>

After her work on the Russell Tribunal was completed Maguire said that the experience had "opened the mind, and deepened the understanding of all those present to the facts of the ongoing injustice which the Palestinians are daily suffering under Israeli siege and occupation. The RToP's findings and conclusions challenge Governments and civil society to have courage and act by implementing sanctions, BDS etc., thereby refusing to be silent and complicit in the face of Israel's violation of International Laws. The RToP was brilliant, informative and decisive, reminding us that all our Governments, and we the people, have a moral and legal responsibility to act to protect Human Rights and International Law and we cannot be silent when injustice is being done to anyone, anywhere".<ref name=nobel>{{cite web|title=Mairead Maguire, Russell Tribunal on Palestine find Israel guilty of Apartheid|url=http://nobelwomensinitiative.org/2011/11/mairead-maguire-russell-tribunal-on-palestine-find-israel-guilty-of-apartheid/|publisher=Nobel Women's Initiative|access-date=30 November 2013|date=10 November 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203012503/http://nobelwomensinitiative.org/2011/11/mairead-maguire-russell-tribunal-on-palestine-find-israel-guilty-of-apartheid/|archive-date=3 December 2013}}</ref>

== Rohingya issue ==

In March 2018, Maguire and two [[Nobel Prize|Nobel]] peace laureates [[Shirin Ebadi]] and [[Tawakkol Karman]] visited [[Rohingya conflict|Rohingya]] camps in [[Cox's Bazar District|Cox's Bazar]] and shared opinions on the crisis. After returning to [[Dhaka]] they discussed the Rohingya crisis with members of the civil society of [[Bangladesh]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2018/02/24/three-female-nobel-peace-laureates-now-in-bangladesh-to-meet-rohingya-refugees|title=Three female Nobel Peace laureates to meet Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh|access-date=12 August 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/news/171567/3-Nobel-laureates-to-visit-Rohingya-camp|title=3 Nobel laureates to visit Rohingya camp|work=Prothom Alo|access-date=12 August 2018|language=en}}</ref>

==Personal philosophy and vision==
{{cquote|Gandhi taught that nonviolence does not mean passivity. No. It is the most daring, creative, and courageous way of living, and it is the only hope for our world. Nonviolence is an active way of life which always rejects violence and killing, and instead applies the force of love and truth as a means to transform conflict and the root causes of conflict. Nonviolence demands creativity. It pursues dialogue, seeks reconciliation, listens to the truth in our opponents, rejects militarism, and allows God's spirit to transform us socially and politically.|author=Mairead Maguire|source=[[Santa Clara University]]<ref>[http://www.scu.edu/ethics/architects-of-peace/Maguire/essay.html "Mairead Corrigan Maguire Reflects on Working Toward Peace"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150613203619/http://www.scu.edu/ethics/architects-of-peace/Maguire/essay.html |date=13 June 2015 }}. [[Santa Clara University]]. Retrieved 27 March 2011.</ref>}}
Mairead Maguire is a proponent of the belief that violence is a disease that humans develop but are not born with. She believes humankind is moving away from a mindset of violence and war and evolving to a higher consciousness of [[nonviolence]] and love. Among the figures she considers spiritual prophets in this regard are Jesus, [[Francis of Assisi]], Gandhi, [[Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan]], Fr. John L. McKenzie, and Martin Luther King Jr.<ref name="journeying">{{cite web |url=http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/2006/12/21_maguire_nonviolence.htm |title=Journeying with Active Nonviolence |first=Mairead |last=Corrigan Maguire |date=21 December 2006 |publisher=Nuclear Age Peace Foundation |access-date=20 February 2011 |quote=The good news is that we are not born violent, most humans never kill, and the World Health Organization says Human Violence is a 'preventable disease'. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101202175639/http://wagingpeace.org/articles/2006/12/21_maguire_nonviolence.htm |archive-date=2 December 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/2006/11/19_maguire_nonviolentworld.htm |title=A Nonkilling, Nonviolent World for the 21st Century |first=Mairead |last=Corrigan Maguire |date=17 November 2006 |publisher=Nuclear Age Peace Foundation |access-date=19 February 2011 |quote=The Human family is moving away from the violent mindset, and increasingly violence, war, armed struggles, violent revolutions, are no longer romanticed, glorified, or culturally accepted as ways of solving our problems. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101202182516/http://wagingpeace.org/articles/2006/11/19_maguire_nonviolentworld.htm |archive-date=2 December 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.peacepeople.com/MaireadByJohnDear.htm |title=Mairead Corrigan Maguire by John Dear, S.J. |publisher=The Peace People |access-date=19 February 2011 |quote=I believe that hope for the future depends on each of us taking nonviolence into our hearts and minds and developing new and imaginative structures which are nonviolent and life-giving for all...Some people will argue that this is too idealistic. I believe that it is very realistic. I am convinced that humanity is fast evolving to this higher consciousness...Everything is changing and everything is possible. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120622043000/http://www.peacepeople.com/MaireadByJohnDear.htm |archive-date=22 June 2012 |url-status=dead  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jesusourshepherd.org/m041203.php |title=We Need Wisdom |first=Mairead |last=Maguire |publisher=Jesus Our Shepherd |access-date=19 February 2011 |quote=I believe each one of us is called to seek truth in our own lives, and to live out that truth with as much integrity as possible. That means reclaiming the ethic of non-violence and love. |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110127081207/http://jesusourshepherd.org/m041203.php |archive-date=27 January 2011 }}</ref>

Maguire professes to rejects violence in all its forms. "As a pacifist I believe that violence is never justified, and there are always alternatives to force and threat of force. We must challenge the society that tells us there is no such alternative. In all areas of our lives we should adopt nonviolence, in our lifestyles, our education, our commerce, our defence, and our governance."<ref name="journeying" /> Maguire has called for the abolition of all armies and the establishment of a multi-national community of unarmed peacekeepers in their stead.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vmpeace.org/apiget/pdf/ref/Documents-documents-19-file/Annual%20Erskine%20Childers%20Lecture%202009%20-Mairead%20Maguire%20and%20Vijay%20Mehta |title='Saving Succeeding Generations from the Scourge of War': Building a Nonkilling, Nonviolent Culture for the Human Family |first=Mairead |last=Maguire |date=18 February 2009 |publisher=Mehta Centre |access-date=19 February 2011 |quote=Armies: I believe we should work to transform the culture of militarism into a culture of nonkilling, nonviolence and peace. Armies could be abolished (as has been done in countries like Costa Rica) and instead establish multi-national community unarmed peacekeepers. |archive-date=28 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728164016/http://www.vmpeace.org/apiget/pdf/ref/Documents-documents-19-file/Annual%20Erskine%20Childers%20Lecture%202009%20-Mairead%20Maguire%20and%20Vijay%20Mehta |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===The Vision of Peace: Faith and Hope in Northern Ireland===
Maguire has written a book, ''The Vision of Peace: Faith and Hope in Northern Ireland.''<ref name=nwi>{{cite web|title=Mairead Maguire – Northern Ireland, 1976|url=http://nobelwomensinitiative.org/meet-the-laureates/mairead-maguire/|publisher=Nobel Women's Initiative|access-date=2 December 2013|archive-date=11 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111062342/http://nobelwomensinitiative.org/meet-the-laureates/mairead-maguire/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Published in 2010, it is a collection of essays and letters, in many of which she discusses the connections between her political activities and her faith. Most of the book is about Northern Ireland, but Maguire also discusses the Holocaust, India, East Timor, and Yugoslavia. Maguire writes that "hope for the future depends on each of us taking non-violence into our hearts and minds and developing new and imaginative structures which are non-violent and life-giving for all.... Some people will argue that this is too idealistic. I believe it is very realistic.... We can rejoice and celebrate today because we are living in a miraculous time. Everything is changing and everything is possible."<ref>{{cite book|title=The Vision of Peace: Faith and Hope in Northern Ireland|isbn=978-1-60899-032-0|last1=Maguire|first1=Mairead Corrigan|date=August 2010|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers }}</ref>

==Awards and honours==
Maguire has received numerous awards and honours in recognition of her work. [[Yale University]] awarded Maguire an honorary [[Doctor of Laws]] degree in 1977.<ref>{{cite web|title=Yale Honorary Degree Recipients |url=http://ris-systech2.its.yale.edu/hondegrees/hondegrees.asp |work=yale.edu |publisher=[[Yale University]] |access-date=22 March 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150521015848/http://ris-systech2.its.yale.edu/hondegrees/hondegrees.asp |archive-date=21 May 2015 }}</ref> In the same year, she received the Golden Plate Award of the [[Academy of Achievement|American Academy of Achievement]].<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url= https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#public-service}}</ref>  The [[College of New Rochelle]] awarded her an honorary degree 1978, as well.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Flynn|first=William J.|title=Peacemaker|journal=College of New Rochelle Quarterly|date=Summer 2009|page=30|editor1-first=Boytim Carpinelli|editor1-last=Lenore|url=http://www.cnr.edu/Media_Library/QuarterlySpring09.pdf|access-date=22 March 2011|quote=Sr. Dorothy Ann presents Mairead Corrigan Maguire (left) of the Northern Ireland Peace People with the Pope John XXIII Medal in 1977, as Ann Close (center), a member of the Peace People, looks on. Mairead Corrigan Maguire returned to the College in 1978 when she (as well as Betty Williams) received an honorary degree.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101214223819/http://cnr.edu/Media_Library/QuarterlySpring09.pdf|archive-date=14 December 2010}}</ref> In 1998 Maguire received an honorary degree from [[Regis University]], a [[Jesuit]] institution in [[Denver]], Colorado.<ref>{{cite web|title=Recipients of honorary degrees from the &#91;1960s&#93; to the 1990s are|url=http://www.regis.edu/content/news/pdf/Honorary.pdf|work=regis.edu|publisher=[[Regis University]]|access-date=22 March 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725060611/http://www.regis.edu/content/news/pdf/Honorary.pdf|archive-date=25 July 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[University of Rhode Island]] awarded her an honorary degree in 2000.<ref>{{cite web|title=Previous Honorary Degree Recipients|url=http://www.uri.edu/commencement/honorary/recipient.html|work=uri.edu|publisher=[[The University of Rhode Island]]|access-date=22 March 2011}}</ref> She was presented with the Science and Peace Gold Medal by the [[Albert Schweitzer]] International University in 2006, for meaningfully contributing to the spread of culture and the defence of world peace.<ref>{{cite web|title=Medals and Honorary Degrees|url=http://www.albertsc.com/awards.htm|work=albertsc.com|publisher=Fundación Universidad Albert Schweitzer|access-date=22 March 2011|quote=Gold Medal Science and Peace. This will be awarded once a year to a person that has distinguished him or herself in the spread of culture and in defense of world peace. The successful candidate for the award will have contributed in both areas.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707104017/http://www.albertsc.com/awards.htm|archive-date=7 July 2011}}</ref>

In 1990 she was awarded the [[Pacem in Terris Award]], named after a 1963 [[encyclical]] letter by [[Pope John XXIII]] that called upon all people of good will to secure peace among all nations. The Davenport Catholic Interracial Council extolled Maguire for her peace efforts in Northern Ireland and for being "a global force against violence in the name of religion."<ref>{{cite web|title=Pacem in Terris |url=http://www.davenportdiocese.org/socialaction/sapitrecipients.htm |work=davenportdiocese.org |publisher=[[Diocese of Davenport]] |access-date=21 March 2011 |quote=MAIREAD CORRIGAN MAGUIRE, peace advocate in Ireland, has become a global force against violence in the name of religion. (1990) |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725222132/http://www.davenportdiocese.org/socialaction/sapitrecipients.htm |archive-date=25 July 2011 }}</ref> [[Pacem in terris]] is [[Latin]] for "Peace on Earth".

The [[Nuclear Age Peace Foundation]] honoured Maguire with the Distinguished Peace Leadership Award in 1992, "for her moral leadership and steadfast commitment to social justice and nonviolence."<ref>{{cite web|title=Distinguished Peace Leadership Award|url=http://www.wagingpeace.org/menu/programs/awards-&-contests/dpl-award/|work=wagingpeace.org|publisher=Nuclear Age Peace Foundation|access-date=21 March 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040628083657/http://www.wagingpeace.org/menu/programs/awards-%26-contests/dpl-award/|archive-date=28 June 2004}}</ref>

==Criticism==
===Nobel Prize decision and Peace People movement===
Referring to the decision to award Maguire and Betty Williams the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize, journalist [[Michael Binyon]] of ''[[The Times]]'' commented, "The Nobel committee has made controversial awards before. Some have appeared to reward hope rather than achievement." He described as sadly "negligible" the two women's contribution to bringing peace to Northern Ireland.<ref>{{cite web |last=Binyon |first=Michael |title=Comment: absurd decision on Obama makes a mockery of the Nobel Peace Prize |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6867711.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100113133401/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6867711.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 January 2010 |work=The Times |location=UK |date=9 October 2009 |access-date=1 February 2011}}</ref>

[[Alex Maskey]] of [[Sinn Féin]] charged that at the time of the Troubles, the Peace People movement was hijacked by the British government and used to turn public opinion against [[Irish republicanism]]. "For me and others, the Peace People and their good intentions were quickly exploited and absorbed into British state policy," Maskey opined.<ref>{{cite web |title=Legacy of NI peace movement |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4781091.stm |work=BBC News|date=11 August 2006 |access-date=2 February 2011}}</ref>

[[Derek Brown (journalist)|Derek Brown]], the Belfast correspondent for ''[[The Guardian]]'', wrote that Maguire and Betty Williams were "both formidably articulate and, in the best possible sense, utterly naive." He described their call for an end to violence in response to the will of the people as an "awesomely impractical demand."<ref>{{cite news |title=The Sad History of Ulster's Peace Movements |first=Derek |last=Brown |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=16 August 1976 |quote=they are both formidably articulate and, in the best possible sense, utterly naive...Their simple, awesomely impractical demand is that all men of violence lay down their arms in response to the will of the people.}}</ref>

In his extensive study of the Peace People movement, Rob Fairmichael found that the Peace People were seen by some as being "more anti-[[Irish Republican Army|IRA]] than anti-[[Ulster Defence Association|UDA]]," i.e. more opposed to republican factions than to loyalist ones. Fairmichael also noted that "Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan were beaten up numerous times and at times the leaders were threatened by a hostile crowd." Fairmichael noted, as examples of forms that some of the extreme negative reactions took.<ref>Fairmichael, pp. 17, 18</ref>

===Prize money controversy===
While most Nobel Prize laureates keep their prize money,<ref>{{cite journal|title=Reflections on the prize of prizes: Alfred Nobel|doi=10.1096/fj.06-1102ufm |journal=[[The FASEB Journal]]|pmid=17077294|year=2006|last1=Pederson|first1=T.|volume=20|issue=13|pages=2186–9|doi-access=free |s2cid=30015190 }}</ref> it is not uncommon for prize winners to donate prize money to scientific, cultural or humanitarian causes.<ref>{{cite web|last=Locke|first=Michelle|title=Berkeley Nobel laureates donate prize money to charity|url=http://www.ebcf.org/press/07/Smoot_AP_3-07.pdf|access-date=2 February 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726012539/http://ebcf.org/press/07/Smoot_AP_3-07.pdf|archive-date=26 July 2011}}</ref><!--The preceding information and references come from Wikipedia articles about the Nobel Prize--> Maguire and Williams' decision to keep their prize funds created controversy in Northern Ireland.<ref>Abrams (2001) p. 28</ref> The move angered many people, including members of the Peace People, and fuelled unpleasant rumours about the two women.<ref>Buscher, pp. 89–90</ref> Rob Fairmichael writes of "gossip of fur coats" and concludes that the prize money controversy was perceived by the public, in the context of the Peace People's eventual decline, as specifically problematic.<ref>Fairmichael</ref>

===Israeli and Pro-Israeli reactions===
In the wake of the 2009 Gaza flotilla, [[Ben-Dror Yemini]], a popular columnist for the Israeli daily ''Ma'ariv'', wrote that Maguire was obsessed with Israel. "There is a lunatic coalition that does not concern itself with the slaughtered in Sri Lanka or with the oppressed Tibetans. They see only the struggle against the Israeli Satan." He further charged that Maguire chose to identify with a population that elected an openly antisemitic movement to lead it – one whose raison d'etre is the destruction of the Jewish state.<ref>{{cite web |last=Yemini |first=Ben Dror |title=Hovevei ha-Ayatollot ba-Hevra ha-Yisre'elit (Hebrew) |url=http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART1/912/921.html |publisher=NRG (Maariv) |date=7 July 2009 |access-date=22 January 2011}}</ref>

Eliaz Luf, the deputy head of the Israeli foreign mission to Canada, has argued that Maguire's activism plays into the hands of Hamas and other terrorist organisations in Gaza.<ref>{{cite web |last=Mittleman |first=Shmuel |title=Calat Pras Nobel le-Shalom Mevaqeshet le-Hishaer ba-Aretz (Hebrew)|url=http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART2/161/761.html |publisher=NRG (Maariv) |date=29 September 2010 |access-date=23 January 2011}}</ref>

Michael Elterman, Chairman of the Canada-Israel Committee Pacific Region, warned that Maguire's actions, though probably well-intentioned, have promoted a hateful, antisemitic agenda.<ref>{{cite web |title=Michael Elterman: Nobel laureate Mairead Maguire's good intentions promote anti-Semitism |url=https://www.straight.com/article-261409/michael-elterman-nobel-laureate-mairead-maguires-good-intentions-promote-antisemitism |work=Georgia Straight |date=6 October 2009 |access-date=23 January 2011}}</ref>

In a 4 October 2010 editorial entitled "The disingenuous Nobel laureate," the ''[[Jerusalem Post]]'' called Maguire's comparison of Israel's nuclear weapons to the gas chambers of Auschwitz "outrageous" and maintained that "Israel can and must use its sovereignty to stop people like Maguire who are essentially seeking to endanger the lives of Israeli citizens." The Post applauded Maguire's expulsion from Israel, "not because of Maguire's outrageous comparison in 2004 of Israel's purported nuclear capability to Auschwitz's gas chambers, nor because of her absurd, reprehensible accusation made in court Monday that Israel is an "apartheid state" perpetrating "ethnic cleansing against Palestinians," but because she had taken "actions that undermine Israel's ability to protect itself.""<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Editorials/Article.aspx?id=190186 |title=Editorial: The disengenuous Nobel laureate |date=4 October 2010 |work=The Jerusalem Post |access-date=5 February 2011}}</ref>

The ''Post'' argued that if Maguire and others "truly desire to improve the lives of Gazans, they should send their humanitarian aid in coordination with Israel," pressure Hamas "and the other radical Islamists who control the Gaza Strip to stop senseless ballistic attacks on Israeli towns and villages, kibbutzim and moshavim," and "insist that Hamas provide Gaza's citizens with a stable, responsible leadership that respects human rights and religious freedom, as well as that it accept the UN-recognized right of the Jewish people to self-determination and political sovereignty in their historical homeland." But Maguire "seems more intent on enabling Israel's terrorist enemies," exploiting "charges of a 'humanitarian crisis' in Gaza in order to empower Hamas terrorists."<ref>{{cite web|title=Editorial: The disingenuous Nobel laureate|url=https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Editorials/Editorial-The-disingenuous-Nobel-laureate|work=The Jerusalem Post|access-date=15 December 2013|date=4 October 2010}}</ref> Jewish and Israeli opinion is not all negative. Following the June 2010 Gaza flotilla raid, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was careful to distinguish between Maguire's nonviolent resistance aboard the ''Rachel Corrie'', which he referred to as "a flotilla of peace activists – with whom we disagree, but whose right to a different opinion we respect," and the conduct of the activists aboard the other six vessels, which he described as "a flotilla of hate, organized by violent, terrorism-supporting extremists."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/navy-takes-over-rachel-corrie-without-incident-1.294382 |title=Navy takes over Rachel Corrie without incident |last1=Yagna |first1=Yanir |last2=Ravid |first2=Barak |last3=Pfeffer |first3=Anshel |date=6 June 2010 |work=Haaretz |access-date=13 February 2011}}</ref> [[Gideon Levy]] strongly defended Maguire in the Israeli newspaper ''[[Haaretz]]'' in October 2010, calling her "the victim of state terror" after Israel refused to allow her to enter the country and kept her detained for several days.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/a-nobel-peace-prize-laureate-in-prison-1.316807 |last=Levy |first=Gideon |title=A Nobel Peace Prize laureate in prison |work=Haaretz |date=3 October 2010 |access-date=8 February 2011}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of female Nobel laureates]]
* [[List of peace activists]]
* [[International Fellowship of Reconciliation]]
* [[PeaceJam]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book |last=Abrams |first=Irwin|isbn=0-88135-388-4 |title=The Nobel Peace Prize and the Laureates: An illustrated biographical history 1901–2001 |year=2001 |publisher=Science History Publications |location=USA }}
*{{cite book |editor1-first=Irwin |editor1-last=Abrams |editor2-first=Gungwu |editor2-last=Wang |title=The Iraq War and Its Consequences|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J-7Ps7k9HF4C|isbn=981-238-590-8|year=2003 |publisher=World Scientific |location=Singapore}}
*{{cite book|title=Máiread Corrigan and Betty Williams: Making Peace in Northern Ireland|year=1999|publisher=[[The Feminist Press]]|location=New York|page=32|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1jvq2fGryJEC|author1=Buscher, Sarah |author2=Ling, Bettina |name-list-style=amp |access-date=22 March 2011|isbn=1-55861-200-9}}
*{{cite web |last=Fairmichael |first=Rob |title=The Peace People Experience |url=http://www.innatenonviolence.org/pamphlets/peacepeople1.pdf |year=1987 |publisher=Irish Network for Nonviolent Action, Training and Education}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Mairead Corrigan}}
{{Wikiquote}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120206150945/http://www.peacepeople.com/MaireadCMaguire.htm Peace People]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120622043000/http://www.peacepeople.com/MaireadByJohnDear.htm Mairead Corrigan Maguire] Peace People
*[http://www.ifor-mir.org International Fellowship of Reconciliation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141217133548/http://www.ifor-mir.org/ |date=17 December 2014 }}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20041210091338/http://www.peaceheroes.com/PeaceHeroes/maireadcorrigan.htm Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mairead Corrigan] Peace Heroes
*{{Nobelprize}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20091012032254/http://www.thebestquestion.com/maireadcorrigan.htm Irish Nobel Prize winners] The Best Question
*[http://www.nobelwomensinitiative.org Nobel Women's Initiative]
*{{C-SPAN|1022863}}

{{Nobel Peace Prize Laureates 1976-2000}}
{{1976 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{Pacem in Terris Award laureates}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maguire, Mairead}}
[[Category:1944 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century politicians from Northern Ireland]]
[[Category:20th-century Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:21st-century politicians from Northern Ireland]]
[[Category:21st-century Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:1976 in Northern Ireland]]
[[Category:Activists from Belfast]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College Dublin]]
[[Category:British Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:Catholic pacifists]]
[[Category:Irish activists for Palestinian solidarity]]
[[Category:Nobel Peace Prize laureates]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates from Northern Ireland]]
[[Category:Nonviolence advocates]]
[[Category:Pacifists from Northern Ireland]]
[[Category:People deported from Israel]]
[[Category:People of The Troubles (Northern Ireland)]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic activists]]
[[Category:Roman Catholics from Northern Ireland]]
[[Category:Women activists from Northern Ireland]]
[[Category:Women from Northern Ireland in politics]]
[[Category:Women Nobel laureates]]