Israel has deported an Irish activist who described Israel as an apartheid state during a court hearing.

The Supreme Court upheld the ban imposed last week on Máiread Maguire entering Israel for the next ten years.

Ms Maguire, a Nobel laureate, was banned from entering Israel in June after she took part in an attempt to breach the naval blockade of Gaza.

Despite warnings from foreign ministry officials that she would not be allowed into Israel, she returned last week with a delegation of female activists.

She was detained and a deportation order was made. After criticising Israel at the hearing, a judge rebuked her that the court was “not a place for propaganda.”

She is due to arrive back in Britain later today.