2 British politicians ‘denied entry’ into Israel during visit to occupied West Bank

Simon Opher and Peter Prinsley were part of a delegation organized by the Council for Arab-British Understanding, which had scheduled meetings this week with British diplomats in Jerusalem as well as with Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups.

Opher’s office said in a statement that the aim of the visit was to “enable members of parliament to witness the vital medical and humanitarian work of a range of organizations including Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) in the occupied West Bank."

“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," it added.

According to media reports, Opher has returned to the UK from Jordan.

The incident mirrors an earlier case this year.

In April, Labour MPs Yuan Yang and Abtisam Mohamed were refused entry into Israel and sent back to the UK.

Israeli authorities alleged that they planned to "document the activities of security forces and spread anti-Israel hatred," citing the MPs' prior criticism of Israel's military actions and their support for sanctions against Israeli ministers.

The British minister for the Middle East and North Africa, Hamish Falconer, said Tuesday that it was "unacceptable" that two more British MPs have been denied entry to the occupied Palestinian territories by Israel.

"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," Falconer said on the US social media company X’s platform.