Show of solidarity for two MPs detained during trip to Israel

Cabinet ministers and more than 70 parliamentarians staged a show of solidarity with the two MPs who were detained and barred from entry to Israel - the first time British MPs had been banned from the country.

- Jessica Elgot

The health secretary, Wes Streeting, and the chief secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, joined the photocall in Westminster Hall yesterday with the MPs, along with Hamish Falconer, the minister for the Middle East and North Africa, and the housing minister Rushanara Ali, organised by the Rochdale MP Paul Waugh.

In a statement in the Commons, Falconer said both MPs were given clearance for entrance by Israel before travelling and that the ban "appears to have been taken on the basis of comments made in this chamber", calling the treatment "unacceptable and deeply concerning".

He said the UK government had made that clear at the "highest level" in Israel and praised Yuan Yang and Abtisam Mohamed for their dignity.

Yang and Mohamed rose in the house to cheers. Mohamed said her treatment was "unprecedented" and that the views she had expressed in the House of Commons were "legitimate political opinions which are firmly aligned with international laws". She said many Israeli people and charities had also called for change in a similar manner.