Jerry Haber tells the (so far) tragic story of Ahmed Al Maghari, a 16-year-old Palestinian living in Gaza, who has studied English and won a fellowship from Amideast to study here (under this exchange program), then had his visa revoked by the U.S. because Israeli intelligence judged him to be a security risk. Al Maghari wrote to Haber:
I succeed in this
program believing in my self and believing a better education and a
better place to live in, but unfortunately, they destroyed my only hope
for a better future, however I still insist to travel in any way. In
addition, this problem effected me in a very negative way, I felt that
I disappointed all my friends and my family's hopes. Moreover, a lot of
hard decisions that I took based on studying in America simply
destroyed.
Writes Haber:
That somebody like Ahmed could grow up in a place like
Gaza seems incomprehensible to many Israelis. That Gaza could be home
to doctors, lawyers, and university professors, seems as
incomprehensible. Such is the power of prejudice and stereotypes.
Haber is mounting an international campaign on Maghari's behalf. Godspeed.
Related posts:
- Gaza is coming of age for post-Zionist bloggers, average age 26!
- Reverse Aliyah
- Palestinian students have to pass admissions process, and military screen, to study in Israel
- 838 Gaza students are barred from study– and the NYT publishes tunnel capers
- Israel Blocks Hundreds of Gazans from Pursuing Graduate Study
{ 2 comments }
He was refused because he was a threat to Israeli security. That's the reason why Israel will only allow 60 Palestinian kids to get a higher education. This was reported as such early last week. SPECIFICALLY: only 60 kids allowed to get a higher education because it was" a threat to Israeli security."
People occasionally mention here how these comment boards are filled with "anti-semites." News of this sort should underscore how it's also filled with people struck by the profound unfairness of actions such as this. To call any objection to this unfairness anti-semitic is like listening to Bill Clinton complain about his racism charge.
"It is hard to convey the amount of bile and reductionist, blame-the-Jews-for-every-sin rhetoric that has taken over much of the blogosphere. Phil Weiss’s blog generally attracts some of the most articulate Jew-bashers, so I tune into the comments from time to time in order to gauge the level of hatred."–Dan Fleshler, March 7, 2008 (On Realistic Dove)
No mention of SOG, or Witty, the lights of objectivity.
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