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British lawmaker brushes off ban from entering Israel, calls it 'badge of honour'
Zarah Sultana says she will continue to speak out against "Israel's genocide and against the UK's complicity."
British lawmaker brushes off ban from entering Israel, calls it 'badge of honour'
"If anything, this ban only strengthens my resolve to keep speaking out," Sultana says. / Reuters Archive

British lawmaker Zarah Sultana, who is among 11 lawmakers barred from entering Israel, has called the move a "badge of honour," vowing that she will not be "intimidated into silence."

"Israel has just banned me from entering. Given that this is a fascist government presiding over genocide, apartheid and an illegal occupation, I'll wear it as a badge of honour," Sultana wrote on X.

Sultana is among 11 British MPs who have been banned from entering Israel in response to the UK government's announcement earlier Tuesday of a trade ban on illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The Your Party MP for Coventry South said she will continue to speak out against "Israel's genocide and against the UK's complicity."

"If anything, this ban only strengthens my resolve to keep speaking out," she added, accusing the new government of continuing to "arm, trade and cooperate with a state committing genocide against Palestinians."

She added: "One day, I look forward to visiting Jerusalem not as an occupied city, but as part of a free and liberated Palestine - a single state with equal rights for all, where Palestinians enjoy the freedom, dignity and equality that have been denied to them for far too long."

'Genocide can't go unpunished'

Along with Sultana, the other banned lawmakers include Jeremy Corbyn, Naz Shah, Diane Abbot, John McDonnell, Richard Burgon, Hannah Spencer, Carla Denyer, Sian Berry, Ellie Chowns, and Adrian Ramsay.

Corbyn, another Your Party lawmaker barred from entering Israel, said he has visited all parts of Palestine on several occasions, where "I have witnessed the horrors of occupation, as well as the resilience and humanity of the Palestinian people."

"Israel's genocide cannot go unpunished - and I will keep speaking up for peace, freedom and justice for the Palestinian people," he wrote on X.

Separately, Your Party said in a statement: "Israel has banned two Your Party MPs, Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, because it blames the Palestine solidarity movement for ending its veto over British foreign policy. It's right!"

Shah, meanwhile, said in a statement that she doesn't know how this list of banned lawmakers was compiled and that it appears random.

"What I am clear about, however, is the position I have consistently campaigned for over many years: the UK Government should take meaningful action to end trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, which are recognised as unlawful under international law," she said in a statement on X.

In a statement to lawmakers in the House of Commons, Ed Miliband said earlier Tuesday that the day marked the "beginning of a new approach" on Israel, announcing that the UK would introduce an import ban on goods from illegal settlements.

SOURCE:TRT World & Agencies