Moshe Feiglin, head of the Likud’s Jewish Leadership faction, has been banned from visiting Britain.

British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith recently sent Feiglin a letter informing him that his presence in the country “would not be conducive to the public good,” due to statements he made in the past calling for harsh measures against terrorists and Arabs who support them.

Feiglin responded with a letter informing Smith that he had not intended to visit Britain in any case.  He expressed pride in being included on the list of Israelis banned from Britain along with former Prime Minister Menachem Begin and senior IDF officers.

Given that Britain recently allowed senior Hizbullah leader Ibrahim Mousawwi to visit, he said, “I understand that your policy is aimed at encouraging and supporting terror.”

Feiglin, who came in second place after Binyamin Netanyahu in the last race to lead the Likud, said that an investigation should be launched to “determine the reasons for this strange initiative against a political figure in Israel. This initiative constitutes yet another example of European interference in Israel’s internal affairs.”

The most bizarre aspect of the ban was the fact that one of the “objectionable” quotes from Feiglin’s past article -  "The Arab is not the son of the desert, but rather, its father" - was taken directly from the book "The Desert Yesterday and Today," written by British High Commissioner of Sinai, Sir Claude Jarvis in 1938.

Click here for an interview with Moshe Feiglin on the matter on Israel National Radio’s Yishai Fleisher show.