Pam Geller isn't the only American Jew to be
denied entry into Britain (Robert Spencer isn't Jewish). In May 2012, a Jewish student from Kansas City named Louis 'Chip' Cantor was
denied entry into Britain. No one seems to know why.
He was detained for more than nine hours before being put on a plane
back to the United States. At the time, he was not given a reason for
being denied entry, and afterwards was told that his name and photo had
been put into a database that would make it difficult for him to obtain
entry into any EU country in the future.
Cantor had been offered a summer job in the United Kingdom by Kevin
Shilling, who stated that during his attempts to get Cantor admitted
into the country, the UK Border Agency made more than one Antisemitic
comment. Customs agent Philip G. Yeomans reportedly said to shilling
that any attempts on his part to aid Cantor in getting into the country
would be useless, and that “the little Jew will be on his way back to
his rich daddy,” in a matter of hours.
Cantor has reported that his struggle to enter the UK began when a
customs agent noticed the Israeli visas in his passport from his time
studying in Israel. He is currently trying to get his fingerprints and
photo removed from the database in which they were entered after the
incident. He stated that he is aware that people with Israeli visas are
frequently denied entry to countries around the world, and said, “It
is sad, but it is the reality we are living in. This will, of course,
never change my love for Israel; it will only make it grow stronger.”
Cantor was detained without being told why, and was denied the
opportunity to call the American consulate or US embassy. He was
escorted on a flight back to the United States, and is currently
attempting to clear his name for future travel.
Unbelievable...
Years ago, in the 1980's to be exact, I met a Jewish Canadian gentleman. He was born and raised in Britain but moved to Canada immediately after completing his education. A very intelligent, educated man, he worked hard and built from scratch a couple of prosperous construction and construction equipment businesses.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, we were chatting about Britain -my ancestry is Scottish and English- and I asked him why he had left Britain. He immediately responded that it was due to all the antisemitism in Britain. I was naive and uninformed in those days and rather condescendingly blew off his answer. Surely not Britain! Mother-of-Parliaments and all that! No doubt, he could have responded with all kinds of anecdotes of personal experiences but he didn't bother.
I wish I still knew him today so that I could apologize to him.