IRISH MEP LYNN BOYLAN has been told that she is banned from entering Israel for a period of five years. 

Boylan, who is chair of the European Parliament Delegation for Relations with Palestine, was informed of the ban by a European Parliament civil servant ahead of a planned visit to Palestine this week. 

The Sinn Féin politician said the European Union should impose a ban on Israeli politicians travelling to the EU in response.

Writing in the EU Observer, a Brussels-based news publication, Boylan said this treatment by Israeli authorities is “an insult to the European Parliament and its elected representatives and is certainly not the behavior of a democracy”. 

Boylan’s travel ban came as an EU delegation was attempting to visit Palestine for a second time this year. In February, Boylan, French MEP Rima Hassan and two EU officials were refused entry to Israel and deported, despite authorisation being granted for the trip.

In a statement today, Boylan said: “Unfortunately, this is just the latest two-fingers that Israel has shown to the international community.

“They’ve given no specific reason for this ban, but one of their justifications was bizarrely that I had called for ICC arrest warrants to be upheld.”

She added: “This is an illegal occupier blocking MEPs from engaging with people in these areas, and the EU should not accept it.

“If Russia were to block the delegation for relations with Ukraine, then the parliament would rightly demand action, and consequences, so why is this not the case when it is Israel committing the violations?

“Allowing a foreign power to dictate what MEPs can do, and to violate international law with impunity sets a very dangerous precedent.”