Opinion: Deportation of British MPs aims to hide Israeli crimes

For the first time in history, the Israeli government has deported two elected British members of parliament. While it has previously denied entry to politicians from other countries, including two members of the European Parliament in February, it had never before done so in the case of Britain, which is theoretically an ally of Israel. 

The Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu) has organised and escorted dozens of British parliamentary delegations to the Middle East in recent decades, especially to the occupied Palestinian territories. It came as a shock to learn of the deportations. 

The delegation, organised jointly with Medical Aid for Palestinians, included two British Labour members of parliament, Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang. Elected just last year, neither had previously visited Israel or the occupied Palestinian territories. 

Their weekend ordeal of detention, interrogation and deportation was, of course, nothing in comparison to what Palestinians in the occupied territories endure on a regular basis.

Read more: Deportation of British MPs aims to hide Israeli crimes by Chris Doyle