Israel bars two Left group MEPs from entering the West Bank: “What don’t they want them to see?”

Brussels – Israel: entry banned, even before arriving. The Left Group in the European Parliament has condemned the preventive bans imposed by the Jewish state. It is the parliamentary group to publicly denounce the incident, in what appears to be outright censorship by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government: “Yesterday, 23 August, Left MEPs Jonas Sjöstedt and Hanna Gedin were prevented from entering Israel and travelling on to the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.”  The two MEPs were stopped even before they set off, “as they were about to board their flight there from Athens, even though they had entry permits and supportive documentation from the European Parliament and the Swedish Embassy.”

At the heart of the incident lies the fact that the Israeli authorities classified them as “undesirable persons”: “We were barred for political reasons because we criticized Israel and demanded that Israeli ministers be brought before the International Criminal Court,” as indeed provided for by the arrest warrant issued against them, Sjöstedt said, who is concerned that “Israel is increasingly preventing people from entering the country, even members of parliament.“ 

According to Hanna Gedin, on the other hand, “it is unacceptable that a country that still has relations and trade agreements with the EU denies elected officials the opportunity to see with their own eyes what is happening and to meet with those experiencing the situation on the ground.” These remarks sound like a new, implicit call to suspend the EU–Israel Association Agreement.

Meanwhile, the Left group has announced that it has informed the office of the President of the European Parliament of the incident, which has occurred whilst “the ethnic cleansing of Palestine continues unabated.” These are harsh and firm accusations, to which they also add insinuations. “What is it they do not want elected representatives to see in occupied Palestine?” asks the Left. The two MEPs had planned to meet with Save the Children, visit refugee camps, and meet with Israeli and Palestinian human rights organisations to gather testimonies on the deteriorating conditions and apartheid in the West Bank.