Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) President Morton A. Klein and ZOA Chairman Mark Levenson, Esq. released the following statement:
No nation should be required to admit persons – even if those persons are foreign government officials – if those persons pose a potential security risk, or seek to destroy or harm the host country, or are otherwise objectionable or inimical to the host country’s interests.
Thus, for instance, the United States properly denied admission to:
- President of Austria and former Secretary General of the United Nations Kurt Waldheim, when Waldheim’s past as a Nazi official came to light after he was elected Austria’s president in 1986.
- PLO Executive Committee member, propagandist and terror supporter Hanan Ashrawi(3 months ago).
- Co-founder and leader of the antisemitic anti-Israel international boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement to delegitimize and economically destroy Israel, Omar Barghouti(barred in April 2019) Barghouti expresses support for terrorism and openly calls for Israel’s destruction.
Israel is absolutely correct to bar admission of Israelophobic Jew-haters Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar. Tlaib and Omar seek Israel’s destruction, and are leading promoters of anti-Jewish anti-Israel BDS. They even outrageously compare boycotting Israel to boycotting Nazis – and introduced and co-sponsored introduced House Resolution 496 to promote BDS. Omar’s financial backers include top anti-Israel BDS leaders and Hamas supporters. Tlaib’s associates include Hezbollah-backer and anti-Israel Al Awda head Abbas Hamideh. A study documented that Tlaib publicly praised 18 colleagues who are close associates of Palestinian terrorists with Jewish blood on their hands, for helping Tlaib to win office. Omar even demanded that a judge should show compassion towards and reduce the sentences of convicted ISIS terrorists – and much more. (Also see “ZOA Applauds Israel for Refusing Entry of Israelophobic Jew-Haters Tlaib and Omar,” Aug. 15, 2019.)