UK Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has caused outrage on Sunday after defending Israel’s decision to detain, deny entry and deport two Labour MPs visiting the country as part of a parliamentary delegation.
On Saturday, UK Foreign Minister David Lammy condemned Israel for detaining and deporting the Labour MPs Yuan Yang and Abtisam Mohamed and their aides who were part of an official delegation coming to visit humanitarian aid projects and communities in the West Bank with UK charity partners, according to The Guardian.
Lammy siad that Israel’s treatment of Yang and Mohamed was “unacceptable, counterproductive, and deeply concerning”.Â
However, talking to Sky News’s ‘Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips’ show, Badenoch sided with Israel, saying, “I think that every country should be able to control its borders, and that’s what Israel is doing, as far as I understand.”Â
Bedonoch further asserted that the MPs were “were coming in to do something that they were not allowed to do, and so I respect that decision”.Â
In response, Lammy wrote on social media site X: “It’s disgraceful you are cheerleading another country for detaining and deporting two British MPs. Do you say the same about Tory MPs banned from China?”
“This government will continue to stand up for the rights of our MPs to speak their mind, whatever their party,” he added.Â
Badenoch, however, hit back, this time accusing Labour MPs of supporting Hamas.Â
“Unlike China, Israel is our ally and a democracy. A good foreign sec would be able to make that distinction,” she wrote on X.Â
“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,” she added.Â
On Thursday, Lammy described the Gaza Strip as “the most dangerous place in the world” for aid workers, one year after seven humanitarian workers, including three British nationals, were killed after an Israeli airstrike deliberately targeted their clearly marked World Food Kitchen convoy in Gaza.
Israel has continually stopped critics of its war on Gaza from entering the country, while it completely restricts the entry of the world media into the Palestinian territory.
T come after at least 15 Palestinian medics and rescue workers, who went to southern Gaza for a rescue operation, were shot dead after Israeli forces opened fire on their vehicles.
Since Israel resumed the heavy bombing of Gaza last month following the collapse of the January ceasefire, at least 1,249 people have been killed — bringing the total death toll since the war began to over 50,600, or more than 61,700 when including those still missing beneath the rubble.
