NATIONAL NEWS - In the wake of a pledge by model and TV personality Shashi Naidoo to learn about the “truth” of Israel’s occupation of Palestine, she was on Wednesday denied entry into Israel.

It has since emerged she’s been banned from the country for 10 years.

When she tried to enter the Occupied Palestinian Territories from Jordan after visiting Palestinian refugee camps, she says her passport was stamped to say she could not return for 10 years.

The Israeli embassy said in a statement that it was entitled to deny entry to those seeking to “harm their country”.

Naidoo was meant to travel as a guest of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), a group that Israel says does not carry its interests at heart.

The model was in tears last month after admitting that she had defended Israel out of ignorance when she had called Gaza a “sh*thole”.

At a joint media briefing that BDS SA and the SA Council of Churches held with the model last month, it was confirmed that she would be embarking on a fact-finding trip to Palestine and Israel to learn more about the struggles faced by Palestinians in the occupied territories and elsewhere.

She was then expected to give a report-back on her findings.

Read more on the Caxton publication, The Citizen.