Israel has banned Jeremy Corbyn, Zarah Sultana and Diane Abbott from entering the country as relations with Britain deteriorate sharply over the occupied West Bank.
Eleven serving MPs have been placed on Israel’s entry blacklist, including five Green MPs, four Labour MPs and two representatives of Your Party.
Fahad Ansari, a lawyer and director of the campaign group Riverway to the Sea, has also been banned.
The restrictions form part of a wider package of retaliatory measures announced after Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband accused extremist Israeli settlers of carrying out ethnic cleansing against Palestinians with support from members of Israel’s government.
Britain has adopted the official position that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank is unlawful and announced new restrictions targeting settlements, businesses and individuals involved in their expansion.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar rejected the accusations as “outrageous lies” and accused Labour of systematically acting against his country.
Which British MPs have been banned?
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Coventry South MP Zarah Sultana, who now represent Your Party, are among the most prominent politicians affected.
The four Labour MPs on the list are Diane Abbott, Naz Shah, John McDonnell and Richard Burgon.
Green MPs Hannah Spencer, Carla Denyer, Sian Berry, Ellie Chowns and Adrian Ramsay have also been barred.
The final person affected is Ansari, whose organisation was involved in the legal challenge against the British government’s proscription of Hamas.
According to the full list published by The Guardian, the entry ban therefore covers 12 British nationals in total.
Corbyn described the decision as “shocking” and accused Israel of attempting to prevent international scrutiny of its actions in Palestine.
Israel closes British consulate in Jerusalem
The travel restrictions are only one element of Israel’s response.
Sa’ar announced that the British consulate in East Jerusalem would be closed. The consulate leads the UK’s diplomatic work with the Palestinian Authority and covers Palestinian affairs in Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank.
Britain’s embassy in Tel Aviv, which manages relations with the Israeli government, is not being closed.
Israel will also exclude Britain from the US-led Gaza coordination mission and terminate the British Support Team’s involvement in training Palestinian Authority security forces in the West Bank.
Reuters reported that Sa’ar coordinated the response with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Sa’ar said the British policy represented “blatant interference” in Israel’s affairs and electoral process. Israel is due to hold an election in late October.
He claimed Britain’s government had left Israel with no choice but to respond, adding that the dispute was with Labour ministers rather than the British public.
What prompted the Israeli retaliation?
The confrontation followed a Commons statement in which Miliband announced a significant change in British policy towards Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
The government will ban imports from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. It also intends to prevent British companies from providing construction, infrastructure, financing and property services that facilitate settlement expansion.
Advertising settlement properties in Britain will be prohibited, while further sanctions will be imposed on individuals accused of supporting or inciting violence against Palestinian communities.
New applications for arms licences and other exports that materially contribute to the occupation will also be refused.
The legislation needed to establish the trade restrictions is expected to come into force within six to nine months.
In his official Commons statement, Miliband said the British government believed Palestinians were being ethnically cleansed from parts of the West Bank by “settler terrorists”.
He said Israeli authorities had repeatedly failed to intervene and accused members of the government of supporting forced displacement.
Miliband also announced that Britain would now formally regard the Israeli occupation of the West Bank as unlawful in its entirety, reflecting the 2024 advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice.
Israel rejects the description of its occupation and settlement policies as unlawful and strongly disputes allegations that its government supports ethnic cleansing.
Settlement expansion drives British policy change
Miliband told MPs that approximately 770,000 Israeli settlers now live in occupied Palestinian territory, compared with around 270,000 at the time of the Oslo accords in 1993.
He said 65 Palestinian communities had been completely displaced since 2023, with more than 4,000 people forced from their homes by settler violence and state action.
The government is particularly concerned about the proposed E1 settlement development east of Jerusalem.
Critics say construction in that area would separate the northern and southern parts of the West Bank, making the creation of a geographically viable Palestinian state considerably more difficult.
Britain, France and Canada announced coordinated import restrictions, while several European countries have introduced similar measures or committed themselves to further action.
A joint statement from Andy Burnham, Emmanuel Macron and Mark Carney said continued settlement expansion posed a direct threat to the prospect of an Israeli and Palestinian state existing alongside one another.
The three leaders also stressed that their measures were directed at settlements rather than Israel itself.
Relations between Britain and Israel reach new low
The entry bans and closure of the Jerusalem consulate mark a serious escalation in the dispute between the two governments.
Miliband maintained that Britain remained committed to Israel’s security and opposed a general boycott of Israeli goods. He said the government’s argument was with Netanyahu’s administration rather than the Israeli people.
The Conservatives criticised the settlement ban, warning that it could damage the livelihoods of Palestinians employed by Israeli businesses.
The Greens welcomed the restrictions but called for the government to impose a complete arms embargo and end wider military cooperation with Israel.
The Israeli response has now drawn serving British parliamentarians directly into the confrontation. By barring MPs from three parties while closing a diplomatic mission responsible for Palestinian relations, Netanyahu’s government has signalled that it intends to answer Britain’s new policy with measures extending well beyond trade.
2 responses to “Israel bans Jeremy Corbyn, Zarah Sultana and nine other British MPs in major diplomatic retaliation”
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Israel is using a keaf out of Nazi Goebells play book by co nstantly denying that they are ethnically cleansing the Left Bank and committing a disgusting genocide in Gaza while the whole world can plainly see their crimes against humanity 🙄
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