Visa Waiver for Israel Violates Arab-Americans' Rights

Understanding Israel/Palestine

Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab-American Institute, discusses Arab-Americans' outrage at the Biden administration's announcement Sept. 27th that it is accepting Israel into the U.S. visa waiver program, a program which allows citizens from select countries to travel to the United States without a visa. Arab-American, Palestinian-American and U.S. Muslim civil rights groups say Israel doesn't meet the United States' own established criteria for admission to the program and violates Arab-Americans' rights as U.S. citizens to equal protection under the law. The visa waiver program requires reciprocity in how citizens enrolled in the program are treated, but as 15 U.S. senators noted in a letter to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken dated Sept. 8, Israel does not yet meet the standards for admittances, and Israel continues to discriminate against Arab-Americans, particularly Palestinian-Americans, seeking to travel to and inside Israel and the Occupied Territories. Berry says her own country is now facilitating Israeli discrimination against her and other U.S. citizens, not only Arab-Americans but all U.S. advocates of Palestinian human rights, who also face discrimination at Israel's borders.