 [IsraelTimes] Advocacy group says Trump administration ’arbitrarily’ silencing Paleostinians over political activities; Strategic Affairs Ministry denies Israel involved in travel ban.
The US government this week denied entry to Omar Barghouti,
| ...one of a long list of members of the Barghouti clan who have prosecuted the war against Israel for over a generation, both politically and as terrorists for both Fatah and Hamas. This one organizes academic boycotts of Israel as well as BDS... |
the leader of the Paleostinian-led boycott movement against Israel,
| ...formally the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC). Given its membership includes representatives from the major Paleostinian political factions including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine, groups that are listed as terrorist organizations by the US, why are they surprised? |
according to a Washington-based advocacy group who claimed the travel ban was retribution for his political activities.
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| More like retribution for heading a political department of the PLO’s war on Israel and its supporters. |
The Arab American Institute (AII) said that Barghouti was barred from boarding a Wednesday flight to New York for a multi-city speaking tour in the United States, despite having a valid travel document and visa.
| It’s been two years, but President Trump’s new broom continues to sweep out old dirt. |
The AII, which coordinated Barghouti’s US visit, said in a statement that he was informed by airline staff at Ben Gurion International Airport that the US Consulate in Tel Aviv had directed US immigration services to deny his entry.
The statement said Barghouti, a resident of Acre who is married to an Arab Israeli and holds Israeli permanent resident status,
| ...something Bibi might want to reconsider, now that he is in an even stronger position than he was a few days ago... |
was not provided an explanation for his denial of entry beyond being told it was an "immigration matter."
| Keep your nasty trash at home — we don’t want him. |
Barghouti, a co-founder of the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) movement, possessed a valid US visa, and the required Israel-issued travel documents, the institute said.
Israel has barred Barghouti from leaving the county a number of times in recent years, by refusing to renew travel documents granted to Paleostinian residents of Israel who do not have full citizenship.
The Strategic Affairs Ministry, which is spearheading Israel’s battle against the boycott movement, told The Times of Israel on Thursday it was not involved in the decision.
The US Embassy in Israel also declined to comment on the Barghouti case to The Times of Israel, citing the confidentiality of visa records.
The BDS campaign advocates boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israeli businesses, universities and artists. Supporters say BDS is a nonviolent movement for Paleostinian independence, but Israel claims it aims to delegitimize the Jewish state, and it has been condemned by many as anti-Semitic at its roots.
On Thursday, AAI President James Zogby
| ...pollster, academic, founder and president of the Arab American Institute (AAI) — which claims to be the political and policy research arm of the Arab-American community (but probably is merely their lobby group) — and Catholic Lebanese-American. For nearly two decades he was on the DNC executive committee. This dude is seriously connected... |
called Barghouti’s ban an "arbitrary political decision," and accused the Trump administration of working to "silence Paleostinian voices."
He condemned "regressive" anti-BDS legislation passed in several US states in recent months, saying the pro-Israel measures violated Americans’ First Amendment rights.
| You can say whatever you please, and the government can choose not to do business with you because of it, just as they don’t do business with companies that support other unsavoury positions. But there are plenty in the private sector who will choose to give you money because they agree with you — let that suffice. |
"It is disturbing that policy makers and the American people will not have the opportunity to hear from Omar directly about his views," Zogby said. "The voices of advocates for Paleostinian human rights
...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state...
, whether through political targeting or regressive, discriminatory laws, are silenced when discussions or debates are denied."
| Don’t be absurd. Surely there are plenty of videos on the internet of other speeches Mr. Barghouti has given, some even in English. Get together a group and watch on a big screen television. Better yet, have him speak live from Israel to your crowds on that big screen tv, saving yourself a bundle on speaker fees, hotels, and five star restaurants. |
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