OTTAWA — A Liberal MP says she was shoved several times by Israeli border officials as her delegation was denied entry to the West Bank Tuesday morning.
Ontario MP Iqra Khalid said Tuesday she was pushed after trying to check on a member of the roughly 30-person delegation who was pulled aside for additional questioning after the group had been at the Allenby Crossing for several hours.
"I wanted to stay close by because there were three or four officers that were surrounding this young woman. And so I asked if I could be part of the conversation. They said no. So I took two steps back and I just was watching," Khalid said in an interview from Amman, Jordan.
"An Israeli officer came up to me and he was yelling at my face and said, 'Go away,' and he pushed me. I took a step back into the wall and I said, 'Don't touch me, please.' And he said, 'I'll touch you as much as I want,' and he pushed me again. And at that point, another officer came and he pushed me further back."
Khalid said another member of the delegation then came and pulled her back toward the rest of the group.
Khalid said the border officials would have known she was a parliamentarian because they had taken her special passport, which looks different from the standard Canadian document.
B.C. NDP MP Jenny Kwan and Quebec Liberal MP Sameer Zuberi, who are also part of the delegation, both told The Canadian Press they witnessed the shoving incident.



