Transport for London has been urged to outline the measures it will take to stop unauthorised anti-Israel posters appearing on the tube network in future.

Labour MPs Tulip Siddiq and Wes Streeting have today written to the transport group’s managing director to ask for a clearer response to this week’s spate of “subvertisements” on trains in the capital.

Dozens of posters questioning the BBC’s coverage of Israel and the Palestinians and attacking security firm G4S for its work in Israel were seen in carriages across London, sparking controversy at the start of the annual “Israel Apartheid Week”.

TfL said the images were not paid-for-adverts and had not been unauthorised. It described them as “fly-posting and therefore an act of vandalism”.

In their letter, Ms Siddiq and Mr Streeting the posters were “gesture politics” and “inflammatory”.

“The clear upset caused by the vandalism is bad for community cohesion,” they wrote.

“We believe it would be in the best interest of communities across London, those affected by conflict or otherwise, for this issue to be resolved through a review of the steps taken to protect advertisements from being defaced.”

The MPs, who are both vice-chairs of the All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism, said their constituents in Hampstead and Kilburn and Ilford had voiced their concerns about the posters, as had faith leaders.

They concluded: “Given the troubling nature of recent vandalism we believe TfL needs to review its safeguards to prevent this from reoccurring... yet action so far seems to be reactive.”

British Transport Police are investigating the episode.

TfL has yet to respond to the letter.