Obama State Department prevents Israeli from playing in the NBA
The Dallas Mavericks thought they had waived Israeli Gal Mekel to the Indiana Pacers. But then the US State Department stepped in. At a time when the Obama administration is trying to legalize millions of illegal aliens, and has doubled the number of student visas from China the State Department refused to extend Mekel's visa to allow him to continue to play in the NBA. Mekel is returning to Israel, the Pacers didn't get the player they wanted, and the Obama administration has managed to hurt another Israeli.
The NBA granted the injury-depleted Pacers a hardship exemption that allowed them to sign a 16th player through last Thursday. When the State Department refused to move up the expiration date on Mekel’s visa even by one day, the Pacers, who had only 9 players on their active roster, backed out of the deal to sign another player before their waiver lapsed.
The Pacers were desperate to sign the Israeli star because only one of their five guards was able to play. Four of the five are injured.
Normally, visas for foreign-born players in the NBA are automatically transferable with the players to whom they are issued. More than 100 foreign-born players are currently in the NBA. This is the first instance many basketball analysts can recall where a foreign-born player was prevented from signing with a new NBA team because a visa could not be transferred.
Indiana wanted the 26-year-old Israeli shooting guard after his impressive start in Dallas, which included 19 points and 9 assists against the Pacers in Indianapolis on October 18.
Mekel was one of two Israelis in the NBA; the other is Omri Caspi of the Sacramento Kings.
More excuses: IDF officers, young Israelis routinely denied visas to the US
Over the past three weeks, we've heard several excuses for the denial of visas to the United States for Israelis. We've been told that visas were denied in order to remove Israel from the 'white list' of countries whose citizens qualify for longer-term visas. We've been told that the United States has been systematically denying visas to Shin Bet (General Security Service)
and Mossad agents, to representatives of the IDF and to executives of
companies in Israel's defense industry, and it was implied that was out of a fear of competition in the defense industry. And we've been told that the denial of visas was a reprisal for what's seen as discriminatory treatment of Arab-Americans by Israel.
And now, there are two new excuses. It's claimed that the United States is trying to weed out IDF officers who have committed 'human rights' violations in Judea and Samaria (the number of which can likely be counted on the fingers of one hand), and that the United States is systematically denying visas to young, post-army Israelis whom it deems likely to sell Ahava cosmetics in shopping malls (because it's Ahava which comes from Judea and Samaria or because they're violating the terms of their visas by working in the US?).
[C]ongressional sources told Globes that in recent months,
several lawmakers have been looking into information about alleged
efforts to screen IDF officers and other security personnel who may have
contributed to “violating the human rights of Palestinian Arabs.”
Maariv reported earlier this month that hundreds of Israelis
with connections to the security establishment were denied visas into
the US in the past year – or were given a single entry visa for three
months, as opposed to the multiple entry visas for periods of up to 10
years that were usually given Israelis until now.
According to ultra-leftist site Mondoweiss, “the most compelling
explanation” for this development “is that the State Department has
begun implementing recommendations contained in a 2011 Inspector General
report examining operations at the US embassy in Tel Aviv. A crucial
finding of the Inspector General’s report was the need for the State
Department to provide the U.S. embassy with 'updated guidance on vetting
Israeli military personnel under the Leahy Amendment.'”
The Leahy Amendment requires the US to withhold assistance from
foreign military units or officials who are known to be involved in
human rights violations.
Mondoweiss added that in response to a request for information about
the denial of visas to Israeli military officials, a State Department
spokesperson said visa requests were “adjudicated individually” and in
accordance with the law, noting, “When any individual makes a U.S. visa
application anywhere in the world, a consular officer reviews the facts
of the case and makes a determination of eligibility based on US Law.”
Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has said that there is a sharp increase
in the number of young Israelis who have been denied visas by the US
Embassy in Tel Aviv. In a March 6 letter ot Secretary of State John
Kerry, Schumer said that the reason for the change in policy was the
concern that the youths would work illegally in the US
...
“After receiving inquiries from several constituents, my staff
contacted your legislative affairs staff and learned that our consulates
apparently have a policy to presumptively deny all tourist visa
applications for young Israeli nationals who wish to visit the United
States during the period in between the completion of their military
service and the resumption of their university education,” Schumer
wrote.
“When my staff asked your staff why this arbitrary policy toward
Israel was in place, we were informed that the State Department is
concerned that these young Israeli nationals were going to violate the
terms of their visas by, for example, selling Dead Sea cosmetics at
shopping malls across the United States.”
You can't make this stuff up.... But something tells me that all these concerns will go away once a Republican retakes the White House.
State Department claims Israeli treatment of Arab Americans behind lack of visa waiver program
Three weeks ago, I reported on a dramatic increase in the number of Israelis being denied visas to the United States. One way to resolve the issue would be for Israel to become part of the United States' visa waiver program. Israel has been seeking acceptance to that program for years, but the Obama administration says Israel isn't getting in because it discriminates against 'Palestinian Americans.'
“The Department of Homeland Security and State remain concerned with the
unequal treatment that Palestinian Americans and other Americans of
Middle Eastern origin experience at Israel’s border and checkpoints, and
reciprocity is the most basic condition of the Visa Waiver Program,”
Jen Psaki, the State Department spokeswoman, said March 21 in her daily
briefing with reporters.
The State Department warns Americans of Arab descent that they may be
delayed or even turned back when arriving at Israeli points of entry.
Israel
says its rate of refusal of entry for Arab-Americans is not
disproportionate and notes that under the Oslo agreements with the
Palestinians, foreigners of Palestinian descent undergo a different
entry protocol.
There have been a number of efforts in Congress
over the years to exempt Israel from visa waiver rules; the most recent
is stalled in the Senate.
Psaki’s remarks came after several weeks
in which a number of lawmakers, led by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.),
have criticized US consular services for their rate of refusal of young
Israelis.
The required maximum rate of refusal of entry for
entering the US visa waiver program is 3 percent. Last year, Israel’s
was at 9.7 percent, up from 5.4 percent the year before.
Given some of the riff raff to which Obama is granting citizenship, I don't think we really want them here. And besides, Israel must have the right every other country has to exclude people whom it feels are a danger. For example, just because the Obama administration is willing to admit the likes of Tariq Ramadan doesn't mean Israel has to.
And by the way, are we excluded from the visa waiver program because we don't let enough Arabs in or because the US doesn't let enough Israelis in?
There's a message here somewhere. This morning, I went to the Ministry of the Interior to replace my Israeli identification card (teudat zehut), which has been missing for about six months now. I did not have the appropriate passport-like pictures, so after I took a number, I ran downstairs to the photographer next door and had my picture taken for the teudat zehut.
On the way out of the building, I remembered that my US passport hit the magic 'six months to expiration' while I was there last month, and therefore it must be replaced sometime before my next trip. So on the way out of the Interior Ministry office, I stopped at the photographer and asked him whether he still had my pictures in the camera, and whether he could print out another set (the set required for the US passport is larger than the set required for the teudat zehut) for me to have when I renew the US passport (The US consulate in Jerusalem recently moved and I am told that there is no photographer nearby there).
He said that the picture had already been deleted, but it would not have mattered anyway, because one is allowed to smile for an Israeli teudat zehut (or passport) picture, while one is not allowed to smile or to have any teeth showing for a US passport picture.
There's a message there somewhere. Perhaps that's why every survey I see ranks Israelis among the happiest people in the world, while Americans are (sorry guys) nowhere to be found in such surveys.
Iranians tried to use fake Israeli passports to emigrate to Canada
This is not the first time this sort of thing has happened. Seven Iranians have been arrested in Canada for trying to use faked Israeli passports to enter the country.
The family – either a couple or siblings, and five children – were arrested at the Vancouver
International Airport. The Iranian family used the name "Solomons",
while pretending to be an Israeli family supposedly residing in Rehovot.
The family includes the
mother, Mona Solomons, 48, the father or sibling Tomer, 40, and the
children Nadine, 15, Narin, 11, Binyamin, 9, Marin, 6, and Nermin, 5.
All seven suspects came to Canada through a third country and not
through Tehran. Once the immigration authority in Vancouver began
suspecting the family, they sent their passports and information to the
Israeli Immigration and Border Authority (PIBA).
A quick review revealed that the passports in the family's possession
were either stolen or lost in the past to real Israeli citizens, and
fabricated in accordance to the clients' details.
In the past, criminal agents in Iran
made use of Israeli passport and were caught as individuals in
different places in the world. This is the first time an extensive fraud
of Israeli passports is made for an entire family. According to
estimates, the Iranian citizens wished to immigrate to Canada using
their Israeli passports, since Israelis are not required to have permits
for entry, while Iranians cannot enter Canadian borders without visas.
The article goes on to describe how easy Israeli passports are to forge, and concludes that the seven Iranians will likely seek and may be granted political asylum. Read the whole thing.
Meanwhile, if you are a dual citizen, the Israeli authorities seem more concerned with getting your foreign passport on the record than they are about improving the counterfeitability of Israeli passports.
When I came back to Israel in May, the Israeli airport authorities asked for my US passport for the second time in recent years.
There are two possible explanations for this - neither of which is particularly reassuring. One is that they want to use it the next time they need passports for the Mossad. The other is that they want to get your foreign passport on file so that you cannot use it to leave the country in the event that the authorities issue an order barring you from leaving the country. In Israel, you don't have to be a criminal to be barred from leaving the country. Owing money to someone is often more than enough.
Back to the Supreme Court for the Zivotofsky's: Court of Appeals says only President can decide what country includes Jerusalem
The United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit ruled unanimously on Tuesday that Congress had no right to pass a law that allow 11-year old Menachem Binyamin Zivotofsky to have his birthplace listed on his US passport as "Jerusalem, Israel." And so, Menachem's parents, Ari and Naomi Zivotofsky are once again going to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States.
A unanimous three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the president - and not
lawmakers - had sole authority to say who controls the historic holy
city claimed by Israelis and Palestinians.
In the US government,
the president "exclusively holds the power to determine whether to
recognize a foreign sovereign," wrote Judge Karen Henderson for the
panel.
Since the founding of Israel in 1948, US presidents have
declined to state a position on the status of Jerusalem, leaving it as
one of the thorniest issues to be resolved in possible future peace
talks.
...
The Zivotofskys plan to ask the high court's opinion again, their lawyer, Nathan Lewin, said on Tuesday.
"Today's
majority and concurring decisions acknowledge that the constitutional
issue presented by this case is significant and calls for resolution by
the Supreme Court," Lewin said in a statement.
An estimated
50,000 American citizens were born in Jerusalem and could have used the
law, if it were enforced, to list Israel as their birthplace.
Four of Mrs. Carl's and my children were born in Jerusalem, Israel.
According to BoingBoing, the form is meant for those who, while applying for a passport, can’t produce a birth certificate. “But as the FA suggests,” the site notes, “the circumstances in which people unable to provide a birth certificate will be given this form (rather than the traditional bureaucratic investigation) are not spelled out; further, the form itself remains a Kafkaesque impossibility for most people to complete.”
Consumertraveler.com notes the near impossibility of the proposed application, too:
The State Department estimated that the average respondent would be able to compile all this information in just 45 minutes, which is obviously absurd given the amount of research that is likely to be required to even attempt to complete the form.
“It’s not clear from the supporting statement, statement of legal authorities, or regulatory assessment submitted by the State Department to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) why declining to discuss one’s siblings or to provide the phone number of your first supervisor when you were a teenager working at McDonalds would be a legitimate basis for denial of a passport to a U.S. citizen,” that site goes on to say.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
