As part of the negotiations to grant a visa exemption to Israelis visiting the US, Israel told the US a few days ago that Palestinian-Americans could enter the country via Ben Gurion Airport, a concession that’s very important to the Americans, Army radio reported on Sunday, noting that the move received the nod of the Shin Bet.
Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked (Yamina) announced in November that Israelis would be able to fly to the United States without a visa starting in 2023. She made the announcement after a meeting in Washington with US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.
On August 15, 2019, Israel announced that the anti-Israel Democratic Squad members Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar would be denied entry into the country, since, as then-Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely put it, Israel would not allow “those who deny our right to exist in this world to enter.”
However, the following day, Israel granted a request by Tlaib to visit her relatives in the Palestinian Authority on humanitarian grounds, provided she did not use the visit to make political statements. Tlaib declined, saying she would not go “under these oppressive conditions.” The Israeli interior ministry argued that Tlaib had agreed to abide by the rules in exchange for being allowed to visit her family, and accused her of making a “provocative request aimed at bashing the State of Israel.”
It should be noted that even if the US and Israel agree on dropping the mutual visa requirements, Israel may still ban Rep. Tlaib from entering the country.
The special provision for Palestinian-Americans is part of a State Dept. and White House onslaught on the way Israel manages Judea and Samaria.
Last July, the US Embassy in Israel issued an unusual statement condemning the demolition of the home of the terrorist who shot to death Yehuda Guetta H’yd at Tapuach Junction. The terrorist, Montasar Shalabi, a resident of the village of Turmus Aya near Ramallah, and some of his family, are American citizens.
“An entire family home should not be demolished because of the actions of one person,” a spokeswoman for the embassy said at the time.
A senior Israeli official said the embassy had contacted the Defense Ministry asking not to destroy the home.
Here’s a question: why does the Israeli government want to make it easier for its citizens to go to America?