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A delegation of 30 Canadians, including six Members of Parliament, was denied entry into Israel early on Tuesday.
A spokesperson for the National Council of Canadian Muslims, which had members in the group, told CBC News each delegate was asked to sign a form declaring they acknowledge they are a threat to public safety, which they declined to do.
The group is on a sponsored travel trip organized by a Canadian registered non-profit charity organization, the Canadian Muslim Vote.
The MPs had planned to meet with civil society groups, Palestinian refugees and internally displaced people, as well as officials from the Canadian government and the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Last week, the NDP’s Jenny Kwan, the party’s only MP in the group, told CBC News she suspected they could be denied entry because of the deteriorating relationship between the Canadian government and Israel over the last two years.
The other MPs in the group are from the governing Liberal caucus.
The trip comes almost three months after the Canadian government formally recognized a Palestinian state, just ahead of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, a symbolic gesture that nevertheless angered Israel.
In January 2024, a similar group of Liberal and NDP MPs was able to get into Israel and visit displaced Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, which this year’s group intended to do as well.
CBC News had inquired with the Israeli government for comment on the pending visit on Monday. At the time, spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian said she had no information to share.
CBC News has inquired with Israeli authorities for updates.
More to come
