Two members of Parliament from the British Labour Party were turned back at Ben-Gurion International Airport on Saturday, drawing rebuke against Israel from their government in London.
A spokesperson for Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority told the Walla news site that Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang came to “spread hateful rhetoric against Israel” and attempted to enter without prior coordination with the foreign ministry and with no diplomatic credentials.
Interior Minister Moshe Arbel made the decision to not admit the two lawmakers and their two aides, according to the report.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy called the refusal “unacceptable, counterproductive and deeply concerning.”
Although the British Foreign Office said the group was a parliamentary delegation, Israel’s immigration officials disputed this, saying no such delegation had been coordinated with them.
Mohamed, MP for Sheffield Central, was among the promoters of a cross-party letter in February calling on the British government to ban the import of “illegal Israeli settlement goods,” as the authors described products made by Jews in Judea, Samaria, eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.
The call for a boycott, the authors’ letter wrote, was “in line with international obligations under an ICJ July 2024 advisory opinion.” The opinion by the International Court of Justice accused Israel of practicing apartheid, among other allegations.
