05-09-2014, 05:30 PM
Israel Visa Flap With U.S. Stirs Up Spy Charges, Profiling Claim
By Calev Ben-David May 08, 2014 http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-05...ling-claim
Israel’s effort to enter the U.S. visa waiver program has turned into a diplomatic imbroglio, spurring charges of espionage, racial profiling and illegal economic activity between the two allies.
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Zeev Elkin said today that a Newsweek article accusing his country of industrial espionage against the U.S. appeared designed to derail Israel’s request to let its citizens enter the U.S. without visas.
“I think that perhaps some people in the American government don’t like this development,” Elkin told Army Radio. “It appears there are those who want to sabotage this in any manner, as there is no other way I can explain why this article is coming out now.”
Despite its political, economic and military ties with the U.S., Israel is not among 38 nations, most in Europe, whose citizens are not required to obtain a tourist visa to visit. Israel has no visa requirement for visiting U.S. citizens, and the European Union lets Israelis enter its member states without a visa.
The Newsweek article this week quoted unidentified congressional staff members saying they were told in intelligence briefings connected to the visa issue that Israel’s industrial spying on the U.S. had “crossed red lines.” Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman called the report “malicious” and said his country doesn’t engage in any espionage activity, either directly or indirectly, in the U.S.
Discrimination Charges
U.S. officials have publicly cited other reasons for denying Israel visa-waiver status, including its treatment of Arab-Americans who sometimes are singled out for lengthy security interrogations when they attempt to enter the country.
“The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State both remain concerned with reciprocal visa free –travel privileges for U.S. citizens due to the unequal treatment that Palestinian Americans and other Arab Americans receive at Israel’s borders and checkpoints,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on April 18. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said procedures at Israeli airports “are not inherently different from those at airports in Western countries.” “Certainly Israel has its own security concerns which are well known to our friends, and pointless to deny,” Palmor said in a phone interview.
Requests Denied
An Israeli official, speaking anonymously because he wasn’t authorized to speak on record, added that it was hypocritical for the U.S. to accuse his country of racially profiling foreign visitors. After 9/11, the U.S. routinely denied initial visa requests for Israelis born in Arab countries, he said, including the Iranian-born former chief of Israel’s military and one of Israel’s top pop singers.
U.S. officials have also expressed concern over the number of young Israelis alleged to be working illegally in the U.S., in particular peddling Israeli cosmetics in shopping malls. A 2010 diplomatic cable from the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, released by Wikileaks, said it was “culturally acceptable for post-army Israelis to work illegally in the United States; key parts of the Dead Sea industry have been able to base a large part of their business models upon the employment of illegal workers.”
The U.S. rejected 9.7 percent of Israeli tourist visa requests in 2013, almost double the previous year, Israel’s Ha’aretz newspaper reported. Qualifying for the visa waiver program requires a refusal rate of no higher than 3 percent. The rise in visa refusals appears to be an effort by some U.S. officials to undermine Israel’s visa waiver effort, the Israeli official said. The U.S. Embassy didn’t reply to requests for comment.
Supporters of Israel in the U.S. Senate failed last year to gain sufficient support for a bill that would have rescinded the 3 percent limit. Legislation offering general support for Israelis gaining visa waivers was passed by the House of Representatives in March.
The State Department and Israeli Foreign Ministry have established a working group to resolve differences over the visa issue.
By Calev Ben-David May 08, 2014 http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-05...ling-claim
Israel’s effort to enter the U.S. visa waiver program has turned into a diplomatic imbroglio, spurring charges of espionage, racial profiling and illegal economic activity between the two allies.
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Zeev Elkin said today that a Newsweek article accusing his country of industrial espionage against the U.S. appeared designed to derail Israel’s request to let its citizens enter the U.S. without visas.
“I think that perhaps some people in the American government don’t like this development,” Elkin told Army Radio. “It appears there are those who want to sabotage this in any manner, as there is no other way I can explain why this article is coming out now.”
Despite its political, economic and military ties with the U.S., Israel is not among 38 nations, most in Europe, whose citizens are not required to obtain a tourist visa to visit. Israel has no visa requirement for visiting U.S. citizens, and the European Union lets Israelis enter its member states without a visa.
The Newsweek article this week quoted unidentified congressional staff members saying they were told in intelligence briefings connected to the visa issue that Israel’s industrial spying on the U.S. had “crossed red lines.” Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman called the report “malicious” and said his country doesn’t engage in any espionage activity, either directly or indirectly, in the U.S.
Discrimination Charges
U.S. officials have publicly cited other reasons for denying Israel visa-waiver status, including its treatment of Arab-Americans who sometimes are singled out for lengthy security interrogations when they attempt to enter the country.
“The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State both remain concerned with reciprocal visa free –travel privileges for U.S. citizens due to the unequal treatment that Palestinian Americans and other Arab Americans receive at Israel’s borders and checkpoints,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on April 18. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said procedures at Israeli airports “are not inherently different from those at airports in Western countries.” “Certainly Israel has its own security concerns which are well known to our friends, and pointless to deny,” Palmor said in a phone interview.
Requests Denied
An Israeli official, speaking anonymously because he wasn’t authorized to speak on record, added that it was hypocritical for the U.S. to accuse his country of racially profiling foreign visitors. After 9/11, the U.S. routinely denied initial visa requests for Israelis born in Arab countries, he said, including the Iranian-born former chief of Israel’s military and one of Israel’s top pop singers.
U.S. officials have also expressed concern over the number of young Israelis alleged to be working illegally in the U.S., in particular peddling Israeli cosmetics in shopping malls. A 2010 diplomatic cable from the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, released by Wikileaks, said it was “culturally acceptable for post-army Israelis to work illegally in the United States; key parts of the Dead Sea industry have been able to base a large part of their business models upon the employment of illegal workers.”
The U.S. rejected 9.7 percent of Israeli tourist visa requests in 2013, almost double the previous year, Israel’s Ha’aretz newspaper reported. Qualifying for the visa waiver program requires a refusal rate of no higher than 3 percent. The rise in visa refusals appears to be an effort by some U.S. officials to undermine Israel’s visa waiver effort, the Israeli official said. The U.S. Embassy didn’t reply to requests for comment.
Supporters of Israel in the U.S. Senate failed last year to gain sufficient support for a bill that would have rescinded the 3 percent limit. Legislation offering general support for Israelis gaining visa waivers was passed by the House of Representatives in March.
The State Department and Israeli Foreign Ministry have established a working group to resolve differences over the visa issue.