[Al Arabiya Latest] An Israeli official says renowned academic and polemicist Noam Chomsky, who is a fierce critic of Israel, has been denied entry to the country.
| Horning in on George Galloway's turf ... |
Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sabine Haddad said Chomsky was turned away for "various reasons" but declined to elaborate. Chomsky was trying to cross the Allenby Bridge from Jordan. He was scheduled to deliver a lecture at Bir Zeit University in the West Bank.
"I went with my daughter and two old friends. We went in the normal way to the border where we were all interrogated. They were particularly interested in me," Chomsky told Israel's Channel 10 from Jordan.
| 'Interested' is perhaps not the right word ... |
Chomsky said the border officials were "very polite," as they "transmitted inquiries from the (Israeli) ministry of the interior."
However, he was denied entry because "the government did not like the kinds of things I say and they did not like that I was only talking at Bir Zeit and not at an Israeli university too," he said. "I asked them if they could find any government in the world that likes the things I say," Chomsky said. | The point is a classic strawman argument. The Israeli officials are not denying entry to other countries. Note for Professor Chomsky: the West Bank is not a country. They could have been, but they refused to accept the responsibilities that go with statehood. |
Officials at Israel's interior ministry, which control the country's borders, were not available for comment.
| "We have work to do. Go bother someone who isn't busy." |
Palestinian lawmaker Mustafa Barghuti, who had invited Chomsky to speak at the university, said the scholar had been detained at the border for five hours.
"This act shows the nature of the Israeli government that is against freedom of speech, particularly from such a noted international figure like Chomsky," said Barghuti. |