Israel Seeks to Deport Activists Who Support Boycott

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Israel Seeks to Deport Activists Who Support Boycott

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS JERUSALEM — Aug 7, 2016, 12:24 PM ET

Israel says it will seek to deport or bar the entry of activists calling for a boycott against the country.

A statement Sunday from Israel's Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan says a team will be set up to find and deport the "hundreds" of boycott activists currently in Israel and work to keep others out.

The statement says dozens of organizations work in Israel to "gather information and use it to advance the boycott against Israel." It did not name those groups.

An international movement known as BDS calls for boycotts, sanctions and divestment from Israel in what it says is a nonviolent struggle against occupation.

Israel says BDS' goal is to destroy the country, and it has identified the movement as a serious threat.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/israel-seeks-deport-activists-support-boycott-41183025

[FBaggins]

1. Don't think of it as deportation.

Just think of it as helping facilitate their boycott.

[6chars]

2. foreign activists, right?

hell, the US has a whole industry of deporting non-citizens who have done nothing to harm the country but simply did not have the right papers. it is pretty understandable how a government would consider activists aiming for a country's boycott as harming the country, even if certain of the advocates of those activists think otherwise.

[Little Tich]

3. US reiterates concern over ‘unequal treatment’ of Arab Americans at Ben-Gurion Airport

Source: Jerusalem Post

A spokesman for Israel’s Interior Ministry told NBC that three of the five activists were denied entry for “security reasons” but did not elaborate on what those reasons were.

A US official accused Israel of treating some Arab Americans unequally after the Jewish state detained five pro-Palestinian American activists and denied them entry into the country.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner on Tuesday reiterated the United States’ “concern” about “unequal treatment” following reports of the July 17 incident at Ben Gurion Airport.

Upon their arrival on July 17, a US staffer for the organization US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and four other members of the group — all carrying US passports — were “interrogated by Israeli border police about their backgrounds and political involvement,” according to a statement issued by the organization Tuesday.

Four of the five were “people of color and Muslim,” and the fifth had a long beard, the group added. Americans do not need visas to enter Israel. The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is a supporter and promoter of BDS, the campaign to boycott Israel and all Israeli products.

Read more: http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/US-reiterates-concern-over-unequal-treatment-of-Arab-Americans-at-Ben-Gurion-Airport-463399