Kamel
Hawwash, de schrijver van het hieronder opgenomen artikel, is een criticus van het VS beleid t.a.v. de Palestijnen en als zodanig werd
hem de toegang tot de fascistische apartheidsstaat Israël geweigerd.
Hawwash is allesbehalve een uitzondering….. Als je je mond opendoet en Israël volkomen terecht bekritiseert voor de terreur die dit land dag
in dag uit, 365 dagen per jaar uitoefent op de Palestijnen (en dat als sinds de illegale stichting
van Israël in 1948), kan je het vergeten, je komt de zogenaamde democratische straat Israël niet in……..
Zelfs mensen van joodse komaf met kritiek op het inhumane fascistische beleid van Israël, wordt de toegang tot dat land ontzegd……
‘Niet vreemd dus’ dat Palestijnen
die kritiek leveren op Israël allesbehalve veilig zijn, zij lopen
grote kans te worden gearresteerd en gevangen te worden gezet…… Zo
zitten er in Israël naar schatting 500 Palestijnen, inclusief vrouwen
en kinderen vast, alleen voor het feit dat ze kritiek hadden op Israël en dat toevertrouwden aan de sociale media……*
Beste
bezoeker het kan nog gekker: Israël en de VS werken samen en
wisselen namen uit, zo kan je het als niet VS burger wel vergeten
naar de VS te reizen (wat altijd een slecht idee is), wanneer je kritiek
hebt geleverd op het fascistische apartheidsbewind in Israël……
Kortom
zowel Israël als de VS gebruiken fascistische methoden om mensen te
weren (en/of hen het leven onmogelijk te maken)………
Daarover
gesproken: het meest smerige is wel dat je met kritiek op de grootschalige terreur van Israël wordt ‘afgemaakt’ als antisemiet…… Ach ja,
fascistische staten werpen altijd elke kritiek van zich en bestraffen
degenen die zich daar schuldig aan maken….. Weten we tenminste waar
we aan toe zijn zowel met zowel Israël als met de VS, beiden fascistische
terreurstaten! (waar de VS nog niet geheel klaar is met de fascistisering van de maatschappij)
Supporting
Palestine Can Now Get You Denied Entry to the US
October
17, 2018 at 11:22 am
Written
by Middle
East Eye
I
have been a severe critic of the current US administration’s policy
towards the Palestinians. But does this make me a possible security
threat to the US? Of course not.
(MEE) — In
April 2017, while travelling for a routine family holiday to
Jerusalem, I was denied
entry upon
arrival at Tel Aviv airport. Israeli authorities’ official –
and bizarre – explanation for the entry denial was: I had attempted
to “gain illegal entry”. However, being British citizens, we are
normally allowed to travel to Israel without a visa. We have it
issued at the entry point and I had obtained it on many occasions
before.
But
as I came to realise later the real reason was due to my role as vice
chair of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), a UK-based
organisation that campaigns peacefully for Palestinian rights and
which upholds the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign
against Israel’s occupation.
BDS
Promoters Denied
In
March 2017, Israel passed the “BDS
law“, which
allowed it to deny entry to those engaged in BDS movement promotion.
My colleague and PSC chair, Hugh
Lanning,
was denied entry soon after the law was passed. Another colleague,
Anwar Makhlouf, head of the Palestinian Federation of Chile, was also
denied entry at the Allenby Bridge based on the same law.
When
I contacted both the British embassy in Tel Aviv and the foreign
office in London for an explanation, I received the same reply: this
was a sovereign decision for Israel. This meant Britain did not even
acknowledge that Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied
Palestinian Territories. The UK’s position is what gives Israel the
green light to conduct its policy with total impunity.
Even
pro-Palestine Jewish foreign nationals, who are supposedly entitled
to go to Israel by
the Law of Return (which grants citizenship to Jews from anywhere in
the world) have been denied entry, and even denied permission to
board their flights to Israel.
In
July 2017, five members of an interfaith
delegation were
denied permission to board a Lufthansa flight at Washington DC’s
Dulles International Airport that would ultimately take them to Tel
Aviv. Among them was Rabbi Alissa Wise of Jewish Voice for Peace
(JVP), who said in a statement: “Israel denied me the ability to
travel there because of my work for justice for Palestinians, even
though I’m Jewish and a rabbi.”
She
added: “I’m heartbroken and outraged. This is yet another
demonstration that democracy and tolerance in Israel only extends to
those who fall in line with its increasingly repressive policies
against Palestinians.”
Last
July, Ariel Gold, co-director of BDS campaign group Code Pink, was
denied entry at
Ben Gurion airport despite obtaining a visa in advance to take a
course at the Hebrew University. Her deportation, and those of
others, are normally ordered by Israeli Minister of Security Gilan
Erdan, and Israeli Minister of Interior Aryeh Deri.
The
most recent case of entry denial involved Lara
Alqasem,
a 22-year-old Palestinian-American student, despite the fact that she
has recently been granted a student visa for her masters’ degree in
the Hebrew University. Alqasem spent days in detention at Tel Aviv
airport struggling to be allowed to join the course she had
registered for.
At
the time of writing, Alqasem was planning a second appeal to Israeli
courts. She stood her ground, refusing to bow to the demands by Erdan
to renounce the BDS movement.
When
I was denied entry to Israel last year, the Israeli interrogator had
printed many pages of my tweets and challenged me about a small
number of them. However, because they were presented to me in Hebrew
I declined the opportunity to comment.
Israel’s
arrests of Palestinians for social media posts have soared. In May,
the Palestinian Prisoners’ Centre for Studies (PPC) said that
Israel had detained
some
500 Palestinians, including women and children, because of their
social media posts. In 2015, Dareen
Tatour,
a Palestinian poet, was detained for three years, before her release
last month, for writing a poem, entitled “Resist my people,
resist.”
US
Ban?
Entry
denial due to BDS movement promotion is an established Israeli
policy. I wonder, however, if my activity on social media, and
my op-eds on the Palestinian conflict, were the reasons behind being
denied boarding of a US-bound plane at Heathrow airport in August.
US
authorities have thus far refused to provide me with an explanation
as to why this happened despite having initially secured approval
through the visa waiver (ESTA) scheme, just as any other British
citizen is normally entitled to do.
ESTA
entitles the holder to travel to the US without a visa for a two-year
period. I had obtained this in the past and travelled to the US to
attend conferences connected to my academic work without any problem,
the last time being in 2015.
My
trip was planned at short notice to spend Eid Al-Adha with relatives
in America. Having obtained my ESTA, I made my way to Heathrow to
board a Virgin Atlantic flight to Seattle on 17 August. Upon
arriving, I tried to check-in via the terminals but could not.
I
was informed by a member of staff that I would not be allowed to
travel since my ESTA had been declined, despite its initial approval.
No explanation was given. I was then told that I could apply for
a visa at the American Consulate in London.
I
was shocked and devastated. I had now missed the window for my
holiday and lost a substantial amount of money, which was not
recoverable.
What
could possibly have changed since my last trip to the US? My
immediate answer was that there was a new administration in the White
House, with little tolerance for foreigners and which is blindingly
supportive of Israel.
However,
I decided to investigate further before my hunch was confirmed. I
wrote to the US ambassador in London and completed a “redress”
request directly to the US Department for Homeland Security.
A
couple of weeks later, the embassy responded through its Customs and
Border Protection Attache saying: “Whilst the Customs and Border
Protection (CBP) are unable to discuss any person’s denial of an
ESTA or their admission into the US due to security/privacy policy
laws, I can confirm that you will require Non-Immigrant visa should
you wish to travel to the US in the future.”
The
“redress” response, which arrived a few days later, was almost
unintelligible.
Trump’s
America
In
the absence of an explanation, I am left with the conclusion that
Trump’s America does not tolerate criticism of its policies and
that it works very closely with Israel, sharing intelligence about
individuals who are deemed undesirable for both countries.
It
is safe to assume that Israeli authorities have supplied US
authorities with names of individuals like myself who have been
denied entry because of their advocacy for the Palestinian people.
However, for the US to then deny them entry based on this peaceful
work is very troubling.
I
have been a severe
critic of
the current US administration’s policy towards the Palestinians.
But does this make me a possible security threat to the US? Of course
not. However, it helps Israel to further bully its critics into
silence if they fear being denied entry to other countries that
Israel can influence.
Neither
denial of entry to Israel nor to the US will silence supporters of
the Palestinian people. In fact, this will embolden us to be even
more vocal in our criticism of apartheid Israel.
By Kamel
Hawwash / Republished
with permission / Middle
East Eye / Report
a typo
===================================
*
Vraag me af of Facebook de Israëlische autoriteiten waarschuwt voor
kritiek op het beleid t.a.v. Palestijnen, daar ze al een enorm aantal
accounts van Palestijnen hebben verwijderd van hun platform……. En
dan durft supergraaier en opperhufter Zuckerberg met droge ogen te
beweren dat Facebook onafhankelijk is……..
Zie ook:
‘Kritiek op Israël wordt door een leger van Israëlische trollen bevochten‘
‘Google Maps veegt Palestijns gebied van de kaart‘
‘De film over de pro-Israëlische lobby in de VS, die Israël verboden wil zien………‘
‘Israël zet snelle reactiemacht op poten tegen anti-Israëlische kritiek‘
‘Jeremy Corbyn wordt gedemoniseerd als antisemiet…….‘
‘Britse justitie gaat ‘hate crimes’ van Labour onderzoeken‘
Voor meer berichten over Facebook censuur, klik op het betreffende label, direct onder dit bericht.
