The British Government is “disappointed” by Israel’s decision to ban two Labour MPs from entering the country, a minister has said, as the row over the incident deepens.
MPs Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang returned to the UK on Sunday after being told they could not visit Israel when on a trip to witness the situation in the occupied West Bank.
The country refused the pair entry claiming they intended to "spread hate speech".
Lilian Greenwood, Future of Roads Minister told Times Radio on Monday: "We're really disappointed by that decision by the Israeli government.
“I'm pleased that my colleagues are safely back home and of course they've had the backing of my colleague, the foreign secretary, who's raised this matter."
She denied the MPs were there to "spread hate speech".
“There's a long history of British MPs travelling to all parts of the world to better shape their understanding of the situation on the ground,” Ms Greenwood added.
“ I would expect that all British MPs travelling would be treated with respect and dignity by the countries they're seeking to visit.
“This is something that's happened in the past to MPs of different parties and we should stand together. There's an expectation that when parliamentarians are travelling that they can carry out those duties in a proper way."
She said: "We've made clear our position, which is that we don't expect British parliamentarians to be prevented from legitimately visiting to see the situation on the ground."
Foreign Secretary David Lammy has spoken to his Israeli counterparts about the incident, and called the situation "unacceptable, counterproductive and deeply concerning".
It comes as a row broke out between Kemi Badenoch and Mr Lammy after the Conservative leader hit back at his criticism of her "disgraceful" comments about the MPs denied entry.
Mrs Badenoch said it was "shocking" that "we have MPs in Labour who other countries will not allow" in.
She added that they should "put UK national interest first", after Mr Lammy criticised her for "cheerleading another country for detaining and deporting two British MPs".
Mrs Badenoch described Israel as an "ally" and a "democracy" as she responded to Mr Lammy on X, writing: "Perhaps Labour MPs could put UK national interest first and do their jobs instead of campaigning for airports in Kashmir or promoting Hamas propaganda in parliament?"
The Tory leader faced backlash after her comments on Sunday morning political programmes in which she also said "countries should be able to control their borders".
She told BBC One's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: "What I think is shocking is that we have MPs in Labour who other countries will not allow ...through."
"If you look at the reasons why the Israeli government has given for why they're not letting them in, they don't believe that they're going to comply with their laws," she added.
"MPs do not have diplomatic immunity. I believe that the people who represent us in Parliament should be people who should be able to go anywhere in the world and people not be worried about what they're going to do when they go into those countries."
The Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu) and Medical Aid for Palestinians (Map) said they had organised the delegation that included the two MPs.
The organisations said they had been organising such trips for "over a decade" and the group had "informed the UK consul general in Jerusalem of their visit".
According to the Times of Israel, the MPs were denied entry because they were suspected of wanting "to document Israeli security forces and spread hateful rhetoric against Israel", citing the population authority.
In a joint statement on Sunday morning, Ms Yang, the MP for Earley and Woodley, in Berkshire, and Ms Mohamed, who represents Sheffield Central, said they had made the trip "to visit humanitarian aid projects and communities in the West Bank" and it is "vital" that parliamentarians are able to "witness first-hand" the situation on the ground in Palestine.
