Israel Matzav

Foreign subversives to be barred from Israel

A bill that has been prepared - but has not yet been presented to the Knesset because it is still gathering sponsors - would empower the Interior Ministry to bar foreign subversives and subversive organizations' foreign leaders from entering the State of Israel or staying here. (The media is presenting it as a bill to bar 'leftists' but that's because that's how the Left wants it presented).

According to the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel, the bill would authorize the Interior Minister “to forbid entrance to Israel or to expel from Israel people defined as enemy agents who harm Israel’s security or image.”

The bill details specific types of activities defined as harming Israel’s security, including denying the existence of the Holocaust, boycotting Israel or Israeli products, and working to hold international court proceedings against Israeli citizens because of activities carried out while serving in Israel’s defense organizations. In the bill’s current form, the Interior Minister would be authorized to forbid violators from spending time in Israel.

“In each and every generation, there are those who rise up against us to destroy us’ and as the State of Israel, the state of the Jewish people, we must act and do everything that we can do to prevent and isolate these phenomena in Israel and in the world,” states the bill’s introduction.

“Today, there is no legal basis whatsoever that allows the state to act and to express its desire to not give legitimacy to those who act to negate – through initiatives, organization, funding or practical acts – the justification for the existence of the State of Israel, and also Israel’s actions taken for the defense, the security and the welfare of its citizens,” the bill’s drafters explained.

Cohen told The Jerusalem Post that the bill “is designed to deal with all kinds of agents who are not citizens, immigrants or qualified to be immigrants” who engage in activities including “fundraising, organizing protests, and incitement.” The Interior Minister would be allowed to expel activists already in Israel, or deny entry to those trying to visit Israel, for either a restricted period or permanently.

The bill is an amendment to the current law detailing the parameters for legal presence in Israel. In addition to individuals, organizations would also be allowed to be placed on the list of non-welcome bodies, meaning that the organizations’ leaders would all be barred from entering the country.

The legislation also delineates an appeals process by which parties who feel that they have been unfairly blocked from entry may appeal the Interior Minister’s decision.

Of course, Israel's Left is up in arms over this saying that it 'stifles dissent' and impinges on 'people's rights.' But the last time I checked, government by consent of the governed means that only citizens have equal rights, while others have whatever rights the host government chooses to give them.

The United States barred Tarik Ramadan from entering its borders for many years (and should have continued to bar him). Canada barred George Galloway. So did Egypt. To differentiate (l'Havdil, as we say in Hebrew, when we went to compare something we believe is right with something we believe is wrong), England has barred Geert Wilders and Moshe Feiglin, and through its universal jurisdiction law has effectively barred most of the Israeli government.

Countries have a right to bar from entering those foreigners whom they believe would act to foment revolution or violence. Why shouldn't Israel have that right?

The picture at the top is some lovely subversives from the ISM (International Solidarity Movement), who would undoubtedly be barred under the law if it is enacted.

Labels: Minister of the Interior, subversives

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:36 AM