Two Labour MPs ‘denied entry’ to Israel during West Bank visit

Two Labour MPs travelling to the West Bank as part of a UK parliamentary delegation said they were denied entry to Israel.

Peter Prinsley and Simon Opher said they were travelling as part of a visit organised by the Council for Arab-British Understanding to observe medical and humanitarian work carried out by various organisations, including Medical Aid for Palestinians.

“It is deeply regrettable that Israeli authorities prevented them from seeing first-hand the grave challenges facing medical facilities in the region and from hearing the British government’s assessment of the situation on the ground,” they said in a joint statement.

The pair were travelling as part of a delegation which was also due to meet British diplomats in Jerusalem, as well as Palestinian and Israeli human rights organisations.

Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer said the decision to deny entry to the two MPs was “unacceptable”.

In a statement on X, he said: “I have remained in contact with both colleagues throughout and I have been clear with the Israeli authorities that this is no way to treat British parliamentarians.”

The Israeli Embassy in London have been contacted for comment.

Both MPs have extensive backgrounds in healthcare.

Stroud MP Dr Opher chairs an all-party parliamentary group on health and worked as a GP, while Dr Prinsley, MP for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket, worked as an NHS surgeon.

Dr Opher told the BBC the pair were held in a passport office and given a “legal form insisting that we leave the country” before being “escorted to a bus” back to Jordan.

“It’s very disappointing. We are both doctors and we were really just going to look at healthcare facilities in the West Bank to see if there was anything we could do to support them,” he said.

“We weren’t in any way trying to undermine the Israelis, just trying to see what we could do in the West Bank” where, he said, they had been told healthcare was getting increasingly difficult.

He said he was not being admitted under “public order” grounds.

In April, two Labour MPs said they were denied entry to Israel, with then Foreign Secretary David Lammy condemning the move as “deeply concerning” and “unacceptable”.

In April, Labour MPs Yuan Yang and Abtisam Mohamed said they were denied entry to Israel, with then-Foreign Secretary David Lammy condemning the move as “deeply concerning” and “unacceptable.”

“It is unacceptable, counterproductive and deeply concerning that two British MPs on a parliamentary delegation to Israel have been detained and refused entry by the Israeli authorities,” Mr Lammy said at the time.

“I have made clear to my counterparts in the Israeli government that this is no way to treat British parliamentarians, and we have been in contact with both MPs tonight to offer our support.