Being denied entry to Israel due to political activism?
- By
- Aparna Patel
- |
- 9 Aug, 2023
- |
I have heard of entry refusals of American citizens who had announced in advance online that they intended to enter the Gaza Strip (at a time this was physically feasible). But something like half the American Jewish community is disappointed with Israeli policy. It would be a very big blacklist.
Many of my friends here in Israel support organisations like Breaking the Silence. This is not unusual. Of course, being citizens we cannot be refused entry and we generally whiz through passport check without any hinderance.
I suspect being active in the BDS circles might earn you thorough questioning, but who knows? Much like any border police, the Israeli authorities don’t share their profiling rules, but if you just cooperate and you’re not up for anything too subversive, you’ll be out of the airport in no time.
For a personal edge, some of my friends and Couchsurfing guests shared stories with me. Here’s the most extreme one:
A young Swiss citizen, whose father was born in the West Bank. Traveling with his girlfriend, Though his family has long
moved to Switzerland, where he was born, the passport control stopped him for
questioning. In the meanwhile, his girlfriend was permitted entry
instantly, as would be expected for a holder of a Swiss passport, and
had to wait for him. Finally, the officer pulled up his
father’s ID and photo on the computer screen (yeah, modern governments
scare me too), and upon confirming his identity, permitted his
entrance.The whole experience was obviously unpleasant and distressing to my guests, but I think overall they’ve enjoyed their trip.
If you’re interested in more horror stories, you can find some here (note, this is an Israeli publication — we do openly discuss such issues around here). Take it with a grain of salt; journalism is naturally sensationalistic. ("Man bitten by a dog" is not news, "Dog bitten by a man" is.) I’m sure you’ve heard about people being questioned by the US border police as well, yet it doesn’t deter most people from travelling to the US.
It’s best to be smart about it. There’s no need to discuss your West Bank travel plans with the officer, especially if your plans include something as mundane as visiting churches in Bethlehem and snapping photos of the wall. Do not joke about bombs, do not get into political arguments, apply the same common sense as with any other border police officer around the world.
It is a recurring subject in the Norwegian press that Norwegians are regularly refused entry to Israel without obvious reasons.
This problem is also addressed in the travel advices on Israel from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They write that if you can be assumed to be a moslem or of Arab origin or if you have participated in political or missionary activism, you may be subject to a thorough interrogation and background checks. Failing to fulfill the requirements for the interrogation and/or background check may lead to a refused entry. It is known, that passengers are refused entry without further explanation. If you are denied entry, you must be expected to be held in custody under poor conditions until it is possible to return to your origin country.
It is of course impossible to even guess if you will or will not have problems entering Israel. Considering that the previous text is written in a diplomatic language by an official ministry, you probably however have a good reason to assume that Israeli immigration may reject you if it can be easily determined that you have participated in internet discussions and expressed an “incorrect” opinion.
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘
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