Israeli military body Cogat, which oversees the Allenby border crossing, told CBC News that the group had been denied entry “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.
In its statement of denial, Islamic Relief Canada CEO Tufail Hussain told Canadian media: “Claims that our charitable resources support terrorism are baseless and dangerous and they place aid workers and the beneficiaries we serve at risk.”