ISRAEL "does not want to the world to see the atrocities being committed in Palestine", Humza Yousaf has said after two Labour MPs were detained and deported.
The former first minister spoke as Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang were denied entry to the occupied West Bank by Israeli authorities on Saturday evening while attempting to visit as part of a parliamentary delegation.
According to a statement from the Israeli immigration ministry, the two MPs were rejected because they were suspected of plans to "document the activities of security forces and spread anti-Israel hatred".
Yousaf slammed the decision as "utterly unacceptable" as he said Israel was looking to "avoid international scrutiny".
"Having banned journalists from entering Gaza and now denying the entry of democratically elected MPs to the occupied West Bank, it is clear Israel does not want the world to see the atrocities being committed in Palestine.
“The UK must end the sale of arms to Israel immediately, and work to secure a ceasefire – ensuring aid can flow freely into Gaza, the return of all hostages, and the beginning of the process of ensure accountability for the atrocities we have witnessed over the past 17 months."
Israel claimed that immigration officers found "no evidence to support the claim... they were travelling as part of an official delegation".
"No politicians or government officials were aware they were coming," the statement added.
Yet the charities behind the visit – the Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu) and Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) – have since said the MPs were travelling "as part of a parliamentary delegation", and that the UK consul general in Jerusalem had been informed of the visit.
Meanwhile, Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie criticised the UK Government's response, as he said that Israel "will feel safe" that the UK will take no action.
Harvie told The National: “The Foreign Secretary can post about how ‘concerning’ this is on Twitter all he wants. But the fact is that he hasn’t taken action against Israel’s collective punishment of civilians, their murder of journalists and rescue workers, their torture of prisoners, ethnic cleansing and genocide, so Israel will feel safe that he isn’t going to take action here either.
“Instead, Labour will continue to ply Israel with weapons, military intelligence and unconditional political support.
“And until UK complicity in these war crimes ends, Israel will continue to flout international and humanitarian law at the expense of not just British diplomatic dignity, but of tens of thousands of innocent lives.”
The Foreign Office declined to comment further.
