Two Labour MPs who were denied entry to Israel have said they are “astounded” by the decision.
Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang have said it is “vital” that parliamentarians are able to “witness first-hand” the situation on the ground in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
The current war in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas fighters launched an attack inside Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza. Since then, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says more than 50,000 people have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory military offensive.
The MPs were refused entry because they intended to “spread hate speech” against Israel, the nation’s population and immigration authority claimed.
In a joint statement posted on X, Ms Mohamed and Ms Yang on Sunday said: “We’re astounded at the unprecedented step taken by the Israeli authorities to refuse British MPs entry on our trip to visit the occupied West Bank.
“It is vital that parliamentarians are able to witness first-hand the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory.”
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch backed Israel’s decision, arguing that “countries should be able to control their borders” and expressing “concern” about the rhetoric of some MPs around Israel. But foreign secretary David Lammy said Ms Badenoch’s support of the Israeli decision was “disgraceful”.
He said: “It’s disgraceful you are cheerleading another country for detaining and deporting two British MPs. Do you say the same about Tory MPs banned from China?
“This government will continue to stand up for the rights of our MPs to speak their mind, whatever their party.”
The foreign secretary added that it was “deeply concerning” that they had not been allowed into the country.
The Israeli immigration authority said Interior Minister Moshe Arbel had denied entry to all four passengers after they were questioned. It accused them of travelling to “document the security forces”.
The Foreign Office said the group was part of a parliamentary delegation – however Israel’s immigration authority contested this claim, saying the delegation had not been acknowledged by any Israeli official. The MPs said the trip had been organised with UK charities that had “over a decade of experience in taking parliamentary delegations”.
“We are two, out of scores of MPs, who have spoken out in parliament in recent months on the Israel-Palestine conflict and the importance of complying with international humanitarian law,” they said in their joint statement. “parliamentarians should feel free to speak truthfully in the House of Commons, without fear of being targeted.”
Emily Thornberry, chairman of parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said Israel “will rue the day that they did this to British parliamentarians”.
