I’m a British MP, a doctor and Jewish. This is what happened when I tried to enter Israel
Earlier this week, I was denied entry into Israel while on a humanitarian parliamentary delegation organised by the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding (CAABU). The NGO is one of the most active and respected bodies working on the Middle East in the British parliament. It promotes conflict resolution, human rights and civil society.
The purpose of my visit, alongside my parliamentary colleague Simon Opher, a doctor like me, was to begin to understand the state of healthcare for Palestinians in the West Bank. Unfortunately, we never set foot in Israel, let alone visited any hospitals in the occupied territories.
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I am Jewish, one of just a dozen or so Jewish members of the House of Commons. I visited Israel for the first time as an idealistic medical student and have since returned for happy holidays, visiting family who live there. I am a member of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and a committed supporter of my local synagogue.
The official Israeli document denying my entry cited “public security or public safety or public order considerations”, without providing any explanation as to how I, a 67-year-old former ear, nose and throat surgeon from Suffolk, might pose any threat at all.
I decided to join the delegation because it would have given me an opportunity to talk to doctors, patients and medical charities on the ground, and expand my knowledge of the horrendous events in the Middle East and how it is affecting medical facilities, medics and the patients they treat. As parliamentarians, we have a responsibility to be as informed as possible.
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Peter Prinsley is the Labour MP for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/20/jewish-british-mp-israel
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