Last week, a day after a Senator pulled a bill from consideration that gives Israel a path into the visa-waiver program with the U.S., activists and experts gathered on Capitol Hill to discuss the legislation.
The bill, long an Israel lobby priority, would allow Israel entry into a program that would give their citizens visa-free entry when traveling to the U.S., and allow Americans the same privilege. But it has sparked a firestorm of controversy over Israel’s practice of denying entry to Palestinian- and Arab-Americans.
Organized by the U.S. Campaign to End the Occupation, the May 21st panel featured two Palestinian Americans–Nour Joudah and Sandra Tamari–who had personally been denied entry by Israel when they were on their way to the Palestinian territories. Also speaking at the panel was Yousef Munayyer, the executive director of the Jerusalem Fund, and Donna Nevel, a Jewish Voice for Peace board member and long-time organizer.
Watch the panel below, in four parts:
OT: On the YouTube channel PublicSolidarity, you find videos of the One Democratic State Conference that took place in Zurich last weekend.
http://www.youtube.com/user/publicsolidarity/videos
Oh, come on, what’s yet another non-reciprocal MOU between US and Israel? Every one of them has benefited Israel much more than the USA, starting with the USA’s first FTA, which was with Israel in 1985, and made by Zionist spies in the USA, and has never been corrected.
Jews wouldn’t do that *
*except where they run the place
Personally, I dealt with bein’ at the airport for 6 hours. Other people of European background were kept, in some cases, for some hours. Frankly, I am one of those Palestinian-Americans who doesn’t look to jump on the plane to go down there.
One major reason is the Israeli border folks. They’re likely that anyone even allows them a visa to any part of the world consider the way the authorities behave. When you make it hard for people to visit their relatives, it’s really cruel. I rarely visit. I was born in North America and feel a strong connection to America, but I like to show relatives, here-and-there, that I care and want to see them.
Israel does not discriminate against Americans or other travelers in Ben Gurion airport. It’s normal that some Arabs -and non-Arabs- are interrogated becase Israel needs to control its borders and assure the security of its citizens, residents and visitors.
Don’t worry guys. You can come and you’ll have no problem at the airport.