Two lawmakers representing the United Kingdom’s Labour Party in the House of Commons said they were denied entry to Israel on Monday.
Simon Opher and Peter Prinsley told the BBC that they intended to visit Judea and Samaria, which they called “the occupied West Bank.”
The pair had planned to observe medical and humanitarian projects run by aid groups, according to the report. In a joint statement, they called the decision by Israeli authorities “deeply regrettable,” saying it prevented them from witnessing the “grave challenges” facing healthcare in the region.
In June, the U.K. Foreign Office announced in a statement, along with its counterparts in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway, that they would freeze assets and bar the entry of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for having “incited extremist violence” against Palestinians.
The MPs were part of a delegation of the Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU), a group whose website describes it as meant to “counter the Israel lobby.” CAABU director Chris Doyle has called Israel an “apartheid regime” and described the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre by Hamas as a reaction to Israel’s policies.
Opher told the BBC that he and Prinsley were detained in a passport office at a border crossing between Jordan and Israel, handed a legal notice ordering their departure, and then escorted back to Jordan.
He said they were informed that the refusal was on “public order” grounds, despite intervention from the U.K. Foreign Office.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said it was “totally unacceptable and deeply concerning” that British parliamentarians were denied entry, adding that the U.K. has made its position clear to Israel.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry did not reply by press time to a query for a reaction.
