Helen CattPolitical correspondent and
Kate WhannelPolitical reporter
Getty Images/ Reuters
Simon Opher (left) and Peter Prinsley (right) say the Israeli authorities decision is “deeply regrettable”
Two Labour MPs who were travelling to the occupied West Bank say they have been denied entry into Israel.
Simon Opher and Peter Prinsley were travelling in a parliamentary delegation to see medical and humanitarian work being carried out by organisations including Medical Aid for Palestinians.
In a joint statement the two MPs said it was “deeply regrettable” that Israeli authorities had “prevented them from seeing first-hand the grave challenges facing medical facilities in the region”.
The Israeli Embassy in London have been approached for comment.
A spokesperson for the UK Foreign Office said: “It is totally unacceptable and deeply concerning that yet again two British MPs have been denied entry to the occupied Palestinian territories by Israel.
“Minister [Hamish] Falconer and officials have remained in contact with the MPs affected throughout. We are clear with Israel that this is no way to treat British Parliamentarians.”
The two MPs were crossing into Israel from Jordan on Monday on a three-day visit organised by the Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU) when they were stopped by Israeli authorities.
Opher told the BBC they were held in a passport office before being handed a “legal form insisting that we leave the country” and then “escorted to a bus” back to Jordan.
The Stroud MP said he was told they were not being admitted on “public order” grounds and that representations from the Foreign Office to Israeli authorities had been rejected.
He said: “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.”
“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.
They had also been due to meet the British Consul General in Jerusalem as part of the visit, as well as meeting Palestinian and Israeli human rights organisations.
Both Prinsley, who represents Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket, and Opher were first elected to Parliament in 2024.
Chris Doyle, the Director of CAABU, told the BBC that it had been organising trips for parliamentarians for many years and that recent denials of entry were “regrettable”.
He said it was “important that British politicians get to see the situation on the ground at a very serious time to determine what’s going on. It allows them to assess that situation and British policy towards it”.
Earlier this year, two other Labour MPs, Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang, were denied entry to Israel in April on another visit organised by the same organisation.
At the time Israeli authorities said the two MPs had “accused Israel of false claims” and were “actively involved in promoting sanctions against Israeli ministers”.
Mohamed and Yang said: “Parliamentarians should feel free to speak truthful in the House of Commons, without fear of being targeted.”
The then-Foreign Secretary David Lammy described the move by Israel as “unacceptable, counterproductive and deeply concerning”.
In April, Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse was barred from entering Hong Kong to visit her newborn grandson.