Here is an ugly story about a Florida family denied the right to travel from Israel’s Ben-Gurion airport after they visited the West Bank. Why? They’re Palestinian-American, visiting Palestinian relatives. The family have American passports; but for a couple of weeks they were compelled to stay in the West Bank. Now all have returned to Florida, with the exception of a 22-year-old who is staying in the West Bank, refusing to accede to Israel’s terms. Wonder how that kid feels about Zionism now…
This forced ghettoization of American Palestinians must be contrasted with the incredible binationalism that Israelis enjoy with respect to the U.S. Many Jews have emigrated to Israel and then come back here to put out their ideas. Gershom Gorenberg, Hillel Halkin, Michael Oren, Max Singer, Dore Gold–I believe all made aliyah but publish their ideas here. Fine. This internationalism is crucial to Israel’s public image as a great democracy (though I still don’t understand why Gold gets $96,000 a year as a "scholar" from the American Enterprise Institute). Oh but don’t ever compare it to South Africa…
