Israel's decision to bar two MPs from entering country 'smacks of racism', claims MP
7 April 2025, 22:42 | Updated: 8 April 2025, 00:29
Israel's decision to bar two MPs from entering "smacks of racism", Labour MP Melanie Ward has claimed.
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Yuan Yang and Abtisam Mohamed were rejected because they were suspected of plans to "document the activities of security forces and spread anti-Israel hatred", according to a statement from the Israeli immigration ministry.
Ms Yang, who represents Earley and Woodley, and Ms Mohamed, the MP for Sheffield Central, both flew to the country from Luton on Saturday.
Now, the MP for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy said: "The detention and deportation of my honourable friends, the members for Sheffield Central (Abtisam Mohamed) and Earley and Woodley (Yuan Yang) by the state of Israel, is disgraceful and it smacks of racism. We cannot ignore the fact that these honourable members are women of colour.
"They were not visiting Israel, but the occupied Palestinian territory where, let us remind ourselves, the ICJ recently found Israel's treatment of Palestinians to constitute and I quote, 'systemic discrimination on the basis of race, religion or ethnic origin'.
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The fact is that white honourable members on recent delegations who have made similar comments about the conflict are not treated in this way."
Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer replied: "I will take the written reasons as the reasons, and they were, as I say, the prevention of illegal immigration considerations, as unlikely as that may seem to this chamber."
Labour MP Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) said the two MPs being denied entry "was a showcase event designed to intimidate, to threaten and silence this place".
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Ms Mohamed and Ms Yang said in their statement: "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.
"They said they have "spoken out in Parliament in recent months" on the Israel-Palestine conflict, and "parliamentarians should feel free to speak truthfully in the House of Commons without fear of being targeted".
They made the trip with charity partners as part of an MPs' delegation "to visit humanitarian aid projects and communities in the West Bank".
