Two MPs have claimed to have been denied entry to the West Bank by Israeli authorities. Clive Lewis, MP for Norwich South, and Lara Bird, MP for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry, and three other European elected representatives, were refused entry to West Bank via Jordan on Monday evening. The group said they were due to meet Palestinian students and civil society leaders and accompany Palestinian farmers facing escalating Israeli settler violence during the olive harvest.
Left out here: Leaves out what changes the picture
The article gives no account of the circumstances at the crossing. GB News reported that the Israeli military had announced land crossings would close for Israel's national election that day. The article neither mentions this announcement nor tests whether it explains an eight-hour detention and interrogation.
Mr Lewis said on social media: "For more than eight hours, we were held, interrogated and made to feel as though we had done something wrong simply by attempting to enter." Ms Bird added: "We were held for 8 hours, interrogated and ultimately prevented from crossing the border." The reported incident is the latest instance of border troubles suffered by parliamentarians visiting Israel. In September 2025, Labour MPs Peter Prinsley and Simon Opher were denied entry to the Middle Eastern nation while attempting to act as observers for medical organisations in the region.
The two MPs were travelling as part of a visit organised by the Council for Arab-British Understanding to observe medical and humanitarian work carried out by various organisations, including Medical Aid for Palestinians. “It is deeply regrettable that Israeli authorities prevented them from seeing first-hand the grave challenges facing medical facilities in the region and from hearing the British government’s assessment of the situation on the ground,” a joint statement given on their behalf read.
The pair were travelling as part of a delegation which was also due to meet British diplomats in Jerusalem, as well as Palestinian and Israeli human rights organisations. An FCDO spokesperson said: "We are aware of these concerning reports, and we are urgently establishing the facts."
LBC reports that Clive Lewis and Lara Bird were held for eight hours and turned back by Israeli authorities at the crossing from Jordan, and it quotes both MPs. In its own voice it then describes their attempt to reach the West Bank as parliamentarians "visiting Israel" and never calls the territory occupied. It also shrinks an eight-hour detention and interrogation to "border troubles".
Uses the occupation's words
Serious
“parliamentarians visiting Israel”
Why this matters
LBC writes, in its own voice, that MPs trying to enter the West Bank were "visiting Israel". It folds the territory into Israel and puts this trip in the same category as a 2025 refusal of entry to Israel itself.
The impression it gives
The West Bank is part of Israel, and the MPs were simply trying to visit Israel.
The context
The West Bank is occupied Palestinian territory. The ICJ has found Israel's occupation of it unlawful. LBC's own reporting two days earlier described the "illegally occupied West Bank", and other coverage of this same trip calls it the occupied Palestinian territories. The word occupied appears nowhere in this article.
On the recordThe International Court of Justice's July 2024 advisory opinion found Israel's occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem unlawful.icj-cij.org (opens in a new tab)
Checked against the whole articleIt never uses the words “occupied” and “occupation”.
The incident is the latest in which Israeli authorities have turned back British parliamentarians, this time at the crossing into the occupied West Bank, territory whose occupation the ICJ has ruled unlawful.
Uses a loaded word
Minor
“border troubles suffered by parliamentarians”
Why this matters
LBC's own summary calls what happened "border troubles", a phrase that names no actor and suggests mishap or paperwork.
The impression it gives
The MPs ran into a routine travel hitch.
The context
The article's own quotes say the MPs were held for more than eight hours, interrogated and refused entry by Israeli authorities. LBC's summary removes both the detention and the authority that carried it out.
How we know
Elsewhere in the article“For more than eight hours, we were held, interrogated”
Elsewhere in the article“ultimately prevented from crossing the border”
The article gives no account of the circumstances at the crossing. GB News reported that the Israeli military had announced land crossings would close for Israel's national election that day. The article neither mentions this announcement nor tests whether it explains an eight-hour detention and interrogation.