Israel turns 2 British legislators

Great Britain and Israel have exchanged strong criticisms this weekend after Israel prevented two British legislators from entering the country and returned them to London.

The members of the Parliament, Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang, who both belong to the Labor Party in the Gauche Center, said on Sunday in a joint statement that they had been “surprised” to be refused the entry into Israel the day before. They DESCRIBED THEIR TIP AS “AN MPS ‘DELEGATION” To the Israeli-Occupied West Bank Alongside Charities “To Visit Humanitarian AID Projects and Communities.” “We are two, out of scores of MPS, Who Have Spoken Out in Parliament in Recent Months on the Israel-Palestine Conflict and the Import Complying with International Humanitarian Law, “They Said, Adding that Lawmakers“ Should feel free to speak truthfully in the house of communes, without fear of being targeted.

Israel rejected the characterization by legislators of their plans.

The Israeli Immigration Authority said in a statement that it was “false” that they were members of an official parliamentary delegation, adding that no Israeli official had “all knowledge of the arrival of said delegation”.

The press release said that Israeli immigration officials questioned legislators and two aids and determined that they intended to “spread the speech of hatred against Israel” and to “document the security forces”.

David Lammy, the British Minister for Foreign Affairs, jumped for the defense of the legislators in a declaration on Saturday, describing the treatment by Israel of “two British deputies on a parliamentary delegation” as “unacceptable, counterproductive and deeply concerning”.

Lammy said that he “told my Israeli government counterparts that it is not a way to treat British parliamentarians.”

Ms. Yang and Ms. Mohamed both entered the British Parliament for the first time in July, in the elections that brought their party to the government.

Ms. Mohamed is a lawyer. Ms. Yang is an economist and former correspondent for the Financial Times

The rejection they have known also caused political controversy in Great Britain, where the crisis in Gaza has long been tense.

The Labor Government has been less favorable to Israel in some respects than its central-law predecessor: in September, Great Britain announced that it would suspend certain arms exports to Israel. Lammy said at the time that there was a “clear risk” that some of the weapons could be used in “a serious violation of international humanitarian law”.

Sunday, Kemi Badenoch, the conservative chief, defended Israel and seemed to blame the legislators in a television interview: “What I think is shocking is that we have work deputies that other countries will not allow,” she said.

These comments were quickly denounced in turn. “It is shameful that you will stretch another country for the detention and expulsion of two British deputies,” wrote Mr. Lammy on X. “Do you say the same on the conservative deputies prohibited from China?”