Travel ban is Israel giving "two-fingers" to the EU, says MEP

The MEP banned from travelling to Israel for five years has called for the EU to retaliate with a ban on Israeli politicians from the EU.

Israel has reportedly imposed a five year travel ban on Lynn Boylan, the MEP for Dublin. They have not provided a reason for the ban.

MEP Boylan was hit with the ban just before she was due to travel to Palestine in her position as chair of the EU’s delegation for relations with Palestine.

This trip was a second attempt by the delegation to visit Palestine, after Lynn, another MEP and two EU officials were detained and deported by the Israeli authorities. Authorisation had been granted for the trip.

MEP Boylan asserts Israel cannot be allowed to continue "acting with impunity" by the international community.

“Unfortunately, this is just the latest two-fingers that Israel has shown to the international community.

“They’ve given no specific reason for this ban, but one of their justifications was bizarrely that I had called for ICC arrest warrants to be upheld.

“I would have thought that advocating for international law should be the position of all people and governments.

“When I speak on what is happening in Gaza, I do so on the basis of my mandate from the people, and my right to freedom of expression - this is supposed to be one of the key pillars of the EU.

“Israel has multiple violations of international law, including their illegal occupation of the West Bank and various illegal settlements.

“This is an illegal occupier blocking MEPs from engaging with people in these areas, and the EU should not accept it.

“If Russia were to block the delegation for relations with Ukraine, then the parliament would rightly demand action, and consequences, so why is this not the case when it is Israel committing the violations?

“Allowing a foreign power to dictate what MEPs can do, and to violate international law with impunity sets a very dangerous precedent.

“If we stop enforcing international law on one country, then we risk giving a free hand to all rogue states to act as they see fit.”