Israel denies 6 MPs entry into West Bank for 'security reasons'

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A delegation of 30 Canadians, including six members of Parliament, was denied entry into the West Bank early on Tuesday.

A statement from Israel's co-ordinator of government activities in the territories (COGAT), which manages the civilian authorities and border crossings in the West Bank, said the delegation's entry was being denied "for security reasons."

"Earlier today, several foreign nationals arrived at the Allenby border crossing without prior co-ordination," the COGAT statement said.

"Following checks conducted by the security authorities in co-ordination with Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Population and Immigration Authority, their entry into the Judea and Samaria area was denied."

A spokesperson for the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), which had members in the group, told CBC News each delegate was asked to sign a form declaring they are a threat to public safety before they could enter the territory.

But Liberal MP Sameer Zuberi, who was one of the MPs not allowed to enter the West Bank through the Allenby land crossing from Jordan, later told CBC News the NCCM mischaracterized what happened at the border.

"For those who received the form — it says that one has been denied entry because of public order concerns or public safety concerns," Zuberi told CBC's Power & Politics.

"The signing of the form, it would never have given entry. This was simply a notification of the reasons that were given," he told host David Cochrane. "What has been reported by the NCCM isn't accurate."

WATCH | NDP MP calls decision 'unacceptable':

MP rejects reason Canadian delegation denied entry into West Bank

December 16, 2025|

Duration 9:24

Jenny Kwan, the NDP MP for Vancouver-East, was one of six members of Parliament denied entry into the occupied West Bank on Tuesday by the Israeli government, on the grounds of 'government, public security, public safety or public order considerations.' Kwan pushed back on the justification of the refusal of entry, calling it 'completely unacceptable.' CORRECTION (Dec. 16, 2025): A previous version of this video included an anchor intro that said delegates were denied entry at the border after they declined to sign a form saying they were public safety risks. In fact, the form simply states that the reason for denial is 'public security or public safety or public order considerations' and asks that the person seeking entry acknowledge with a signature that the decision was delivered to them. We have trimmed this video.

The group is on a trip sponsored by a Canadian registered charity, The Canadian-Muslim Vote.

The other five parliamentarians on the trip include Liberal MPs Fares Al Soud, Aslam Rana, Iqra Khalid, Gurbux Saini and NDP MP Jenny Kwan.

The MPs had planned to meet with civil society groups, Palestinian refugees and internally displaced people, as well as officials from the Canadian government and the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Those meetings were to be held across the region, including in Jerusalem, Jenin, Hebron and multiple refugee camps, the NCCM statement said.

The statement also said members of the delegation are safe and were on their way back to Jordan, with plans to return to Canada after attending a series of meetings.

A deteriorating relationship

Last week, Kwan told CBC News she suspected they could be denied entry because of the deteriorating relationship between the Canadian government and Israel over the last two years.

The trip comes almost three months after the Canadian government formally recognized a Palestinian state, just ahead of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, a symbolic gesture that nevertheless angered Israel.

"Israel will not allow you to shove a terror state down our throats," Netanyahu told the UNGA a week after Canada's announcement, also criticizing other Western countries that had opted for recognition, such as France and the United Kingdom.

In January 2024, a similar group of Liberal and NDP MPs was able to get into Israel and visit displaced Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

CBC News had inquired with the Israeli government for comment on the pending visit on Monday. At the time, spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian said she had no information to share.