Six Canadian members of parliament, along with a delegation of 24 other people, have been denied entry by Israel to the occupied West Bank while trying to cross the border from Jordan.
The group was attempting to enter as part of a trip to Israel and the West Bank sponsored by non-profit organisation The Canadian-Muslim Vote (TCMV).
The Israeli ambassador to Canada said the group had been denied entry because TCMV had links to Islamic Relief Worldwide, a non-governmental organisation proscribed by Israel as a terrorist group.
Islamic Relief Worldwide and its Canadian affiliate both strongly deny that characterisation. TCMV also hit out, saying its funding came from qualified donors only.
Israeli military body Cogat, which oversees the Allenby border crossing, told CBC News that the group of 30 had been denied entry on Tuesday “for security reasons”, after they arrived at the Allenby border crossing “without prior co-ordination”.
The denial was described as “deeply troubling” by the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), who said its staff members and community leaders were in the delegation alongside the MPs.
Five of the six MPs who were denied entry were from the governing Liberal Party. They were Fares Al Soud, Iqra Khalid, Aslam Rana, Gurbux Saini and Sameer Zuberi.
The sixth MP was Jenny Kwan, from the left-leaning New Democratic Party. Kwan called the situation “completely unacceptable” and rejected the suggestion that the lawmakers posed a public safety risk.
The NCCM said the goal of the trip was “observing conditions on the ground and engaging directly with Palestinian and international stakeholders”.
Stephen Brown, the CEO of the NCCM, criticised the Israeli government, saying the denial of entry was part of a “broader pattern” to restrict access “to those seeking to independently witness the realities in the occupied territories”.
Iddo Moed, the Israeli ambassador to Canada, told CBC that the reason for denial was due to TCMV’s links to Islamic Relief Worldwide. “The issue really is the link to a terrorist organisation,” he said.
A spokesperson for Islamic Relief Worldwide described it as a “false allegation” that it had attempted to challenge in the Israeli courts. “Our work in Gaza has been audited by donor governments and global audit firms, and all have confirmed that our work is purely humanitarian,” they added.
In its own statement to Canadian media, Islamic Relief Canada CEO Tufail Hussain said: “Claims that our charitable resources support terrorism are baseless and dangerous and they place aid workers and the beneficiaries we serve at risk.”
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand confirmed the delegation had been denied entry in a statement on X on Tuesday afternoon.
She added that her ministry “expressed Canada’s objections regarding the mistreatment of these Canadians while attempting to cross”.
A different group of MPs were permitted to travel on a similar trip in 2024, also organised by TCMV.
Tensions between the Canadian and Israeli governments have risen in recent months after Canada – alongside the UK, France and other Western nations – formally recognised a Palestinian state in September.
At the time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticised the recognition as “disgraceful”.
Earlier this year, two MPs from the UK’s governing Labour Party were also denied entry by Israel after crossing from Jordan during a visit organised by the Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU).
Simon Opher and Peter Prinsley were travelling in a parliamentary delegation in September to see medical and humanitarian work being carried out by organisations, including Medical Aid for Palestinians.
A spokesperson for the UK Foreign Office said at the time that the incident was “totally unacceptable and deeply concerning”.
Two other Labour MPs, Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang, had earlier been denied entry to Israel in April on another visit organised by the same organisation.
By BBC News
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