ISRAEL has drawn up a list of 12 Britons who are now barred from the country, including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and all five Green MPs.
Both Israel and the US criticised the UK’s stance announced by Ed Miliband this afternoon, which will see a ban on imports from illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and sanctions on individuals and firms providing services to settlers.
Israel announced its own counter measures after Miliband set out the sanctions as part of a reset in the way the Labour Government will deal with Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration.
There are five Green MPs on the list, four Labour MPs and two from Your Party.
The Israeli government has provided a full list of the 12 individuals banned from entering the country:
- Jeremy Corbyn MP
- Zarah Sultana MP
- Fahad Ansari, Director of Riverway to the Sea
- Naz Shah MP
- Diane Abbott MP
- Hannah Spencer MP
- Carla Denyer MP
- Sian Berry MP
- Ellie Chowns MP
- John McDonnell MP
- Richard Burgon MP
- Adrian Ramsay MP
The Green Party has said it will “not be bullied into silence” after all its MPs were banned from entering Israel.
A party spokesperson said: “We will not be bullied into silence by the Israeli government. We are proud of our MPs for standing up for Palestinian rights and demanding an end to British complicity in genocide and illegal occupation.
“These threats only strengthen our resolve. The British government must stand firm and follow these overdue restrictions with a full arms embargo and wide-ranging sanctions.”
Corbyn meanwhile said he would “keep speaking up for peace, freedom and justice for the Palestinian people”.
He said: “I have visited all parts of Palestine on several occasions, where I have witnessed the horrors of occupation, as well as the resilience and humanity of the Palestinian people.
“They are the ones who suffer from Israel’s apartheid. It is their freedom which is egregiously curtailed, alongside thousands of Palestinian refugees who are denied the right of return.
“As the world wakes up to the genocide in Gaza, it is shocking that Israel continues to deny entry to UN investigators and international journalists. Israel doesn’t want the world to see what it is doing – but we can never give up in our attempts to expose the truth.
“That is the real scandal. Israel’s genocide cannot go unpunished – and I will keep speaking up for peace, freedom and justice for the Palestinian people.”
The former Labour leader is a vocal critic of the Israeli government, regularly attending pro-Palestine marches.
The now-independent MP for Islington North had the Labour whip in Parliament removed in October 2020 over his response to the equalities watchdog report on antisemitism in the party during his tenure as leader.
Also hitting back against the move, Burgon said: “I’ve repeatedly called for sanctions on Israel over its war crimes and ethnic cleansing, including by providing evidence to the International Criminal Court.
“The decision of the Israeli government to sanction me today will not intimidate me into silence. I will continue to do what is right, speak out in defence of international law and stand up for justice for the Palestinian people.”
The Israeli retaliation came after Miliband told the Commons that a “new approach” was necessary because plans for the E1 development in the West Bank would render a two-state solution “unviable” by “cutting through the heart of Palestine”.
He said more settlements had been approved under the four years of Netanyahu’s government than in the previous 20 years, and settler terrorism in the West Bank was “rampant”.
“The British government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank – perpetrated by settler terrorists,” Miliband told the Commons.
“And all too often the Israeli government has turned a blind eye to this and worse, members of it have made statements and taken actions to support the forced displacement of Palestinians.”
