Britain and Israel exchanged sharp criticisms over the weekend after Israeli authorities blocked two British lawmakers from entering the country and returned them to London.
The members of Parliament, Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang, who are both part of the governing Labour Party, released a joint statement on Sunday, expressing their surprise at being denied entry into Israel the previous day. They described their trip as part of a parliamentary delegation to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, alongside charities, aimed at visiting humanitarian aid projects and communities.
Israel contested the lawmakers’ depiction of their plans.
According to a statement from the Israeli immigration authority, it was “untrue” to say that the lawmakers were part of an official parliamentary delegation, stating that no Israeli officials were informed about the delegation’s arrival.
The Israeli immigration authority’s statement also mentioned that officials had interrogated the lawmakers and two aides, concluding that the purpose of their visit was to “spread hate speech against Israel” and “document the security forces.”
David Lammy, the British Foreign Secretary, defended the lawmakers in a statement on Saturday, calling Israel’s treatment of “two British MPs on a parliamentary delegation” as “unacceptable, counterproductive, and deeply concerning.”
Lammy stated that he had “made it clear to his Israeli counterparts that this is not an acceptable way to treat British parliamentarians.”
Ms. Yang and Ms. Mohamed were first elected to Britain’s Parliament in July, during the election that placed their party in power.
Ms. Mohamed is a lawyer, and Ms. Yang is an economist and former correspondent for The Financial Times.
This incident also sparked political controversy in Britain, where the conflict in Gaza has been contentious for a long time.
In contrast to its center-right Conservative predecessor, the Labour government has been somewhat less supportive of Israel: In September, Britain announced that it would suspend some arms exports to Israel. At the time, Lammy mentioned that there was a “clear risk” these weapons could be used in “a serious violation of international humanitarian law.”
On Sunday, Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, defended Israel and seemed to blame the lawmakers in a television interview: “What I think is shocking is that we have Labour MPs that other countries will not let in,” she said.
These remarks were quickly criticized in return. “It’s disgraceful you are cheering another country for detaining and deporting two British MPs,” Lammy wrote on Twitter. “Do you say the same about Tory MPs banned from China?”
