Key facts
- Israel barred two Swedish MEPs, Jonas Sjostedt and Hanna Gedin, from entering the occupied West Bank.
- The lawmakers were denied entry at Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday.
- Israel's foreign ministry stated the MEPs had acted against Israel and spread false accusations.
- The MEPs intended to meet human rights and humanitarian organizations.
- The EU and Swedish embassies in Israel protested the decision.
Israel has refused entry to two Swedish members of the European Parliament who were seeking to visit the occupied West Bank. Jonas Sjostedt and Hanna Gedin, both members of Sweden’s Left Party, were turned away at Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday, according to Israel’s foreign ministry. The ministry accused the two lawmakers of having "consistently acted against Israel", including by calling for international legal proceedings against Israelis. It also accused them of spreading "false accusations against Israel", including allegations of genocide, deliberate starvation and the intentional targeting of children and medical personnel. The two MEPs said they had planned to meet human rights and humanitarian organisations, including Save the Children, and visit refugee camps. "We were not going to meet the Palestinian Authority," Sjostedt said in a Facebook post, adding that the EU and Swedish embassies in Israel had protested the decision. The Israeli government has faced allegations of genocide in Gaza, including from UN investigators. In June, UN investigators accused Israel of deliberately targeting Palestinian children as part of what they described as an ongoing genocide. Rawhi Fattouh, president of the Palestinian National Council, condemned the decision, calling it "an attempt to impose silence by force and turn criticism of the occupation into an accusation". Israel also barred US Democratic congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar from entering the country in 2019 after they had strongly criticised Israeli policies towards Palestinians.