Unacceptable: UK on detention of 2 MPs in Israel

The British government has described as “unacceptable” the detention of two Labour Party members of parliament in Israel after being denied entry for a proposed visit to the West Bank as part of a parliamentary delegation.

Abtisam Mohamed, MP for Sheffield Central in northern England, and Yuan Yang, MP for Earley and Woodley in south-east England, said in a joint statement posted on social media on Sunday that they were “astounded” at the unprecedented step.

Israel’s immigration authority said the entry had been denied because the UK government MPs intended to “spread hate speech” against Israel and were travelling to “document the security forces” amid the ongoing conflict with Hamas.