{"id":5654,"date":"2025-12-16T23:48:47","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T23:48:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=5654"},"modified":"2025-12-16T23:48:47","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T23:48:47","slug":"canadian-mp-blocked-from-west-bank-rejects-israels-safety-concern-claims-israel-palestine-conflict-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=5654","title":{"rendered":"Canadian MP blocked from West Bank rejects Israel\u2019s \u2018safety concern\u2019 claims | Israel-Palestine conflict News"},"content":{"rendered":"


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A Canadian lawmaker who was denied entry to the occupied West Bank, alongside fellow politicians and civil society leaders, has dismissed Israel\u2019s claims that the delegation posed a threat to public safety.<\/p>\n

Jenny Kwan, a Canadian MP with the left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP), questioned whether Canada\u2019s recognition of an independent Palestinian state earlier this year contributed to Israel\u2019s decision to block the group.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHow is it that members of parliament are a public safety concern?\u201d she said in an interview with Al Jazeera. \u201cHow is it that civil society organisations who are doing humanitarian work\u2026 [are] a security concern?\u201d<\/p>\n

Kwan and five other MPs were among 30 Canadian delegates denied entry to the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Tuesday after Israel deemed them a risk to public safety.<\/p>\n

The delegation, organised by nonprofit group The Canadian-Muslim Vote, was turned back to Jordan at the King Hussein (Allenby) Bridge crossing, which connects Jordan with the West Bank and is controlled by Israel on the Palestinian side, after an hours-long security check.<\/p>\n

Kwan said another female MP in the group was \u201cmanhandled\u201d by Israeli border agents while attempting to keep an eye on a delegate who was being taken for additional interrogation.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was shoved \u2013 not once, not twice, but multiple times \u2013 by border agents there,\u201d Kwan said. \u201cA member of parliament was handled in that way \u2013 If you were just an everyday person, what else could have happened?\u201d<\/p>\n

The delegates had been expected to meet with Palestinian community members to discuss daily realities in the West Bank, where residents have faced a surge in Israeli military and settler violence.<\/p>\n

They were also planning to meet with Jewish families affected by the conflict, said Kwan, who described the three-day trip as a fact-finding mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cI reject the notion that that is a public safety concern,\u201d she said of the delegation\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n

Lack of information<\/h2>\n

Global Affairs Canada, the country\u2019s Foreign Ministry, did not respond to Al Jazeera\u2019s questions about the incident.<\/p>\n

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said on Tuesday afternoon<\/a> that the ministry was in contact with the delegation and had \u201cexpressed Canada\u2019s objections regarding the mistreatment of these Canadians while attempting to cross\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Israeli military did not respond to Al Jazeera\u2019s repeated requests for comment.<\/p>\n

In a statement to Canada\u2019s public broadcaster CBC News, the Israeli military agency that oversees affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory, COGAT, said the Canadian delegates were turned back because they arrived \u201cwithout prior coordination\u201d.<\/p>\n

COGAT also said the group\u2019s members were \u201cdenied for security reasons\u201d.<\/p>\n

But the delegates said they had applied for, and received, Israel Electronic Travel Authorization permits before they reached the crossing. Kwan also said the Canadian government informed Israel ahead of time of the delegation\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not quite sure exactly what kind of coordination is required,\u201d Kwan told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe followed every step that we\u2019re supposed to follow, so I\u2019m not quite sure exactly what they mean or what they\u2019re referring to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canada-Israel ties<\/h2>\n

Canada, a longstanding supporter of Israel, faced the ire of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after it joined several European allies in recognising an independent Palestinian state in September.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael will not allow you to shove a terror state down our throats,\u201d Netanyahu said in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.<\/p>\n

The recognition came after months of mass protests in Canada and other Western countries demanding an end to Israel\u2019s genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza, which has killed more than 70,000 people since October 2023.<\/p>\n

Rights advocates also called for action to stem a surge in deadly Israeli violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.<\/p>\n

Against that backdrop, members of the Canadian delegation questioned whether their entry refusal was part of an Israeli effort to prevent people from witnessing what is happening on the ground in the Palestinian territory.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018What are they trying to hide?\u2019 is the question that comes to mind,\u201d Fawad Kalsi, the CEO of the relief group Penny Appeal Canada and one of the delegates, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Kwan, the Canadian MP, raised a similar question, saying, \u201cIf people cannot witness\u201d what is happening on the ground in the West Bank, \u201cthen misinformation and disinformation will continue\u201d.<\/p>\n

She added that she also saw foreign doctors being turned back to Jordan at the King Hussein (Allenby) Bridge crossing as they tried to bring medicine and baby formula into the West Bank.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we as members of parliament could face denial of entry,\u201d she said, \u201cimagine what is going on on the ground with other people, and the difficulties that they face, that we do not know about.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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A Canadian lawmaker who was denied entry to the occupied West Bank, alongside fellow politicians and civil society leaders, has dismissed Israel\u2019s claims that the delegation posed a threat to public safety. Jenny Kwan, a Canadian MP with the left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP), questioned whether Canada\u2019s recognition of an independent Palestinian state earlier this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-canada-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}