Israel has refused entry to two Swedish members of the European Parliament who were seeking to visit the occupied West Bank.
Jonas Sjostedt and Hanna Gedin, both members of Sweden’s Left Party, were turned away at Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday, according to Israel’s foreign ministry.
The ministry accused the two lawmakers of having “consistently acted against Israel”, including by calling for international legal proceedings against Israelis.
It also accused them of spreading “false accusations against Israel”, including allegations of genocide, deliberate starvation and the intentional targeting of children and medical personnel.
The two MEPs said they had planned to meet human rights and humanitarian organisations, including Save the Children, and visit refugee camps. “We were not going to meet the Palestinian Authority,” Sjostedt said in a Facebook post, adding that the EU and Swedish embassies in Israel had protested the decision.
