- cross-posted to:
- europe@feddit.org
- worldnews@lemmy.ml
- cross-posted to:
- europe@feddit.org
- worldnews@lemmy.ml
April 5 (Reuters) - Israel has detained two British members of parliament and refused entry to the officials who were visiting as part of a parliamentary delegation, British Foreign Minister David Lammy said in a statement late on Saturday.
Sky News, citing a statement from the Israeli immigration ministry, says that the detained parliamentarians are Labour MPs Yuan Yang and Abtisam Mohamed, who were rejected because they were suspected of plans to “document the activities of security forces and spread anti-Israel hatred.”
“I have made clear to my counterparts in the Israeli government that this is no way to treat British Parliamentarians, and we have been in contact with both MPs tonight to offer our support,” Lammy said.
The UK government has already released a statement saying that they expect Israel to host delegations like this. Ergo, they have indicated that it is their business. Actions are more indicative of the situation than wordplay.
It’s the government’s responsibility to ensure the safety of MPs, but it seems they were there on parliamentary or personal business bit government business.
Again, wordplay belies intent. If they have to get involved in the negative treatment of a delegation like this, when a situation such as this arises, it is demonstrably their business.