Swedish MEPs barred by Israel from West Bank visit

Israel refused entry to two Swedish members of the European Parliament who wanted to visit the occupied West Bank, Israeli officials said Monday.

Jonas Sjostedt and Hanna Gedin, members of Sweden's Left Party, were turned away Sunday at Ben Gurion Airport, the main gateway for visitors to the Palestinian territory.

Israel's foreign ministry said the pair had “consistently acted against Israel”, including by calling for international legal proceedings against Israelis. It also accused them of spreading false allegations against Israel, including genocide, deliberate starvation and the intentional targeting of children and medical personnel.

United Nations investigators, who do not speak for the global body as a whole, charged in June that Israel was deliberately targeting Palestinian children in an ongoing “genocide” in Gaza. Israel rejected the finding and accused Hamas of using Palestinian children as human shields.

Sjostedt said in a Facebook post that he and Gedin had planned to meet human rights and charitable organisations, including Save the Children, and visit refugee camps. “We continue to work against Israel's illegal occupation, the displacement of Palestinians, and genocide,” he wrote. He added that Sweden had issued a protest.

Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said the Swedish embassy assisted the two MEPs, but told Dagens Nyheter that every country “has its own entry regulations” and noted that Sweden has a travel advisory in place for Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Rawhi Fattouh, president of the Palestinian National Council, called on European parliaments to speak out against the exclusion of critical voices.

Israel regularly allows foreign lawmakers to enter, but in 2019 it denied entry to US Democratic congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, who were highly critical of Israel.