Declassified UK: Israel detains two British MPs
Posted: 10th April 2025
This week, two Labour MPs were detained and barred entry to Israel while on a delegation to the region organised by the Council for Arab-British Understanding and Medical Aid for Palestinians.
The MPs, Yuan Yang (Earley and Woodley) and Abtisam Mohamed (Sheffield Central), said in a joint statement that they were “astounded at the unprecedented step by the Israeli authorities to refuse British MPs entry on our trip to visit the occupied West Bank”.
This marked the first time in history that British MPs had been banned from the country.
Yang and Mohamed added that they had “come on an MPs’ delegation to visit humanitarian aid projects and communities in the West Bank with UK charity partners who have over a decade of experience in taking parliamentary delegations”.
The incident provoked a political and media firestorm, with greater attention paid to the detention of two MPs than the ongoing and intensifying genocide against the Palestinians.
UK foreign secretary David Lammy responded to the incident by saying “it is unacceptable, counterproductive, and deeply concerning” that the MPs were detained. Downing Street echoed his remarks.
The decision to detain the MPs had apparently been taken in response to comments made in the House of Commons, with the Israeli government saying they had “accused Israel of false claims” and were “actively involved in promoting sanctions against Israeli ministers”.
Mohamed had previously initiated a cross-party letter, signed by 61 MPs, calling for a ban on Israeli settlement goods – in line with international law. “We’ve banned imports from illegally occupied Crimea, so we should do the same for settlements in Palestinian lands”, she said.
Remarkably, Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch refused to support her parliamentary colleagues and came out batting for Israel. She said Israel has the right to “control its borders”, adding that it was “very significant” that Labour MPs would not be welcome in the country.
But what are the wider implications of this incident?
Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has seemingly calculated that it can treatBritain with utter contempt, confident that Israel will incur no sanction or consequence.
Indeed, the day after the MPs were detained, the Royal Air Force sent a Shadow R1 surveillance plane towards Gaza to collect intelligence for Israel. There have been no further announcements of arms restrictions on Israel, and bilateral trade negotiations are ongoing.
The Labour government should therefore not be permitted to feign shockabout being treated with a modicum of the contempt that Israel typically reserves for the Palestinians. This is precisely how a rogue state enforcing apartheidand committing genocide should be expected to behave in the international arena.
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