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- 'I was banned from traveling through Israel to visit West Bank. This is just a small reflection of situation for millions of Palestinians across world who are not allowed to visit their homeland,' Manus Carlisle tells Anadolu - He also urges EU governments and institutions to take stronger action against human rights abuses by Israel
UPDATES WITH FURTHER REMARKS; CHANGES DECK
By Melike Pala
BRUSSELS (AA) - A press officer for The Left group in the European Parliament, Manus Carlisle, said Israeli authorities deported him after detaining him for approximately eight hours at Ben Gurion International Airport, citing political activism, previous travel to the occupied West Bank, and opposition to Israel.
Carlisle, who was traveling with his partner to participate in the olive harvest in the occupied West Bank as part of the Fa3za campaign, said the couple were denied entry into Israel upon arrival at the Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv.
The Fa3za campaign coordinates volunteers and solidarity efforts between Palestinian villages facing attacks, seeking to support communities, and help protect farmers during the olive harvest season.
Speaking to Anadolu in an exclusive interview, he said the couple had planned to spend approximately one month in Palestine, participating in a campaign aimed at supporting Palestinian communities facing settler attacks and violence during the olive harvest season.
"We were traveling really in kind of a solidarity with those communities," Carlisle said.
He said the couple had anticipated difficulties entering the country but were nevertheless "shocked" by the experience, describing an interrogation process during which Israeli officials allegedly demonstrated detailed knowledge of their political activities and social media presence.
"They (Israeli officials) didn't like the Irish passport, and they didn’t like that I had spent time in Bethlehem before. Eventually, we were told that they knew every demonstration we had ever been on, and every social media post we had ever made," he said.
Carlisle said the couple had taken steps to remove social media content relating to Israel approximately one month before traveling, hoping this would make their entry into the country less difficult.
- 8 hours of questioning
The couple traveled through Ben Gurion International Airport, a route the press officer said he had used several times previously.
However, he said the atmosphere had changed considerably since his last visit before 2023, with Israeli authorities appearing increasingly "paranoid" of international travelers.
Upon passing through regular border security, the couple were immediately flagged for additional questioning.
There, they encountered two other Irish men who had also been traveling to participate in the same olive harvest initiative.
"They were definitely on the lookout for us specifically," he said.
He identified his Irish passport and previous travel to Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank as factors that may have attracted the attention of Israeli authorities.
The couple were questioned about their travel intentions, where they were coming from, and their political views.
The questioning continued through several rounds, with the atmosphere becoming increasingly confrontational during his third interview.
He said the final round was conducted by Israeli security services and that officials explicitly told him they knew about his political activities and online presence.
"It was not so friendly anymore. I was told, in their words, 'We know who you are. We know what you do. We know all of your internet activity. We know that you've been to demonstrations. We know that you hate Israel.' So, that was made very clear to us that we were just not going to be allowed in, that we were going to be denied Israel entry, in their words, because we hate Israel," he said.
Carlisle said the couple were subsequently transferred to a deportation holding area after spending around eight hours in detention at the airport.
- Israel sees international visitors as 'threat'
He said the incident demonstrated what he considered a significant change in the approach of Israeli authorities toward international visitors seeking to enter the occupied Palestinian territories.
"They've become a lot more paranoid, a lot more insular. They don't want to see internationals coming because they see them as a threat," Carlisle said.
He said the timing was particularly concerning given the political climate surrounding the Israeli elections and developments affecting Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank.
More than 2,600 Palestinians have been displaced as the Israeli army continued a large-scale military offensive in the West Bank city of Hebron, amid raids, closures, and assaults on residents.
He suggested that Israeli authorities' reluctance to allow international visitors was connected to concerns about outsiders witnessing developments in the occupied West Bank.
"At the time of the elections, it's very clear that the government doesn't want anyone in there poking around, looking at what they're doing in the West Bank as they're demolishing entire neighborhoods in Hebron, as they're cutting off communication and travel between towns and villages in the West Bank, and as we're seeing, they're supporting settler violence on the olive harvest, which, as we know, is such an important part of Palestinian heritage," Carlisle said.
- 'Europe has to do a lot more'
Carlisle said he intended to bring the incident to the attention of his colleagues within the European Parliament, although he had not yet formally raised it with the relevant EU authorities.
He stressed that he considered his own experience part of a wider problem affecting European politicians, journalists, and international activists seeking access to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
"We've seen our MEPs, we've seen very senior members of parliament being either detained or being refused access to Israel, even when they have institutional roles that require them to travel to Israel," Carlisle said.
He contrasted the treatment of European politicians seeking to investigate the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories with that of politicians participating in visits organized from a pro-Israeli perspective.
Carlisle said his own inability to travel through Israel to reach the West Bank was a small reflection of the restrictions experienced by millions of Palestinians.
"I was banned from traveling through Israel to visit the West Bank. This is just a small reflection of the situation for millions of Palestinians across the world who are not allowed to visit their homeland ... for not even just decades, but for generations," he said.
He called on European governments and institutions to take stronger action in response to human rights abuses by Israel.
"I think the EU and European politicians have looked the other way for far too long, and we need to step up," Carlisle said.
Among the measures he proposed was the possible implementation of the EU Blocking Statute to protect European citizens and businesses from the extraterritorial effects of sanctions imposed by third countries.
He also called for a reassessment of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which provides the framework for political and economic relations between the bloc and Israel.
