Two British MPs travelling as part of a parliamentary delegation to the occupied West Bank were denied entry into Israel earlier this week, according to their offices.
Labour MPs Peter Prinsley and Simon Opher were part of a delegation organised by the Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU), which had scheduled meetings this week with British diplomats in occupied Jerusalem, as well as with Palestinian and Israeli human rights campaigners.
According to a statement from CAABU, the MPs' purpose of visit was to see humanitarian and developmental projects as well as to meet with Palestinian civil society. They were also due to meet international aid agencies, including Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and UN bodies, as well as the British Consul-General.
Opher and Prinsley, who are both doctors, were due to enter the occupied territory on Monday 15 September. CAABU said Israeli authorities claimed the official reason behind the decision to deny their entry was for "public security, public safety or public order consideration", but failed to explain as to how the UK MPs posed any threat to security or public order.
In an official statement, CAABU said it "deeply regrets" the decision taken by Israeli authorities to prevent the MPs "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".
CAABU Chair Rt Hon Alistair Carmichael MP added: "As one of the many MPs who has benefited hugely from a CAABU delegation to the West Bank, it is deeply troubling that Israel has started blocking MPs from entering. It is yet a further example of behaviour that one should not expect from a country the government sees as an ally."
On Wednesday, UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting criticised Israel's actions, calling it "shameful but not surprising" in a social media post.
Despite his recent ordeal, Opher stressed to The New Arab that highlighting the reality of medical care in the West Bank and war-torn Gaza and supporting them "in the almost impossible task their face" was more newsworthy. He told TNA that he will do what he can to "arrange for some more direct support for some of the people with whom I have established contact", in reference to medical workers in the West Bank.
"It is avoidable. The will and means are there to restore the decimated healthcare infrastructure in the West Bank. The only holdups, as far as I can see, are the direct targeting of healthcare professionals and the failure of the Israeli government to pay the money owed to the Palestinian Authority and allow aid and volunteers in to ease the situation," he said.
The New Arab also contacted the Israeli embassy in London but did not receive a response.
Opher has been the MP for Stroud since July 2024 and worked as a general practitioner for almost 30 years prior. In 2016, he was awarded an MBE for introducing and advocating social prescribing in the NHS.
The doctor has been outspoken over the atrocities faced by Palestinian healthcare workers amid the onslaught in Gaza. Earlier this month in Parliament, he criticised the deliberate killing, detention and torture of Palestinian medical workers by Israeli forces and urged UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to raise the issue with his Israeli counterpart.
"Israel is deliberately destroying the Palestinian healthcare system," he said.
According to UK media, the MP had recently returned to the UK from Jordan.
Meanwhile, Prinsely has served as MP for the Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket constituency since July 2024, and has been an otorhinolaryngologist, educator and ENT consultant by profession for the past three decades.
This is the second incident of its kind to occur this year. In April, UK Labour MPs Yuan Yang and Abtisam Mohamed were detained and refused entry as they attempted to travel to the occupied West Bank to witness healthcare conditions there, also part of a CAABU delegation.
Mohamed and Yang were accused by Tel Aviv of intending to spread "anti-Israel hatred" during their visit, which they called "astounding". CAABU, MAP, as well as then-Foreign Secretary David Lammy slammed the Israeli move.