By Allowing Israel into the Visa Waiver Program, President Biden is Endorsing Israel’s Discrimination Against Palestinian-Americans

By Mohammed AbuJayyab

Last week, officials in the Biden administration confirmed that Israel will be granted entry into the U.S. Visa Waiver program after years of campaigning by the Israeli government. The decision was made even though Israel continues to discriminate against Palestinian-Americans such as myself when attempting to visit our homeland, which should render it ineligible.

By allowing Israel into the program now, the Biden administration is effectively endorsing Israel’s discrimination against Palestinian-Americans and creating separate classes of U.S. citizens. That’s why, along with several other Palestinian-Americans, I’m part of a federal lawsuit filed by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee challenging Israel’s participation in the program.

Entry into the U.S. Visa Waiver Program is much coveted by countries around the world. It allows the citizens of qualifying countries to visit the U.S. without a visa. In order to enter the program, a country must meet certain requirements, including treating all U.S. citizens equally. As noted by Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) in statement released following news that Israel will be allowed into the program: “Adherence to this important American tenet of reciprocity and equal treatment of all U.S. citizens is critical to the integrity of the Visa Waiver Program, and we are deeply concerned with the Administration’s decision to move forward in violation of that principle.”

Since Israel was established in 1948, Palestinian-Americans and anyone suspected of supporting Palestinian rights have been systematically discriminated against when trying to enter Israel and the Palestinian territories occupied by the Israeli military since 1967. Hostile interrogations, demands to access personal email and social media accounts, confiscation of computers and other personal electronic devices, and strip searches, are common. Frequently, people are detained for hours before being denied entry and sent back to where their flight originated.

Despite a recent trial period to evaluate whether Israel meets the program’s criteria, and new rules negotiated between Israel and the Biden administration, Palestinian-Americans are still being singled out from other U.S. citizens for separate and unequal treatment upon arrival at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv. They must apply for permission from Israel’s occupying army to enter the West Bank or Gaza, which is often denied without legitimate reason. In contrast, Jewish Americans and others are allowed to enter Israel without restrictions and can even travel freely to and from Israeli settlements built on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank in violation of longstanding U.S. policy and international law.

I myself was denied entry this past July when trying to visit my ailing grandmother, my sister and aunts and uncles in Gaza. I grew up in a refugee camp in Gaza to a family that was expelled from their village in what became southern Israel in 1948. Upon arrival at Ben Gurion, I was told that Palestinians from Gaza are not included in the Visa Waiver Program and put on a plane out. Highlighting the arbitrary nature of Israeli policy towards Palestinian-American travelers and the uncertainty that we must deal with each time we try to visit, in 2015 I was able to enter the West Bank but was prevented from leaving for nearly a year because I have an ID card from Gaza. When I tried to return to the West Bank in 2019, I was denied entry for the first time. In 2022, I was able to enter Gaza, with much difficulty, through Egypt. This month, Israel announced new procedures denying entry to travelers going to Gaza unless they prove ahead of time that they have resided in Gaza recently, essentially making the Visa Waiver Program meaningless. This experience is a common one for Palestinians.

Israel’s discriminatory treatment of Palestinian Americans is part of a larger system of racist oppression of Palestinians that Israel has been engaged in since the state was established, which every major human rights organization, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have concluded amounts to the crime of apartheid.

By allowing Israel into the Visa Waiver Program even though it doesn’t meet the requirements, the Biden administration is condoning Israel’s discrimination against
Palestinian-Americans. This special treatment and the broader, almost unconditional support the U.S. government gives to Israel fuels a sense of impunity among Israeli leaders that they can continue trampling the rights of Palestinians, whether U.S. citizens or the millions of stateless Palestinians living under Israel’s brutal apartheid system in the occupied territories, and flouting U.S. policy and international law on settlements and other matters.

The Biden administration should stop giving Israel special treatment and enabling Israel’s apartheid policies against Palestinians, including U.S. citizens. It should immediately reverse course and deny Israel the privilege of participating in the Visa Waiver Program until it begins treating all U.S. citizens equally, regardless of their race or ethnicity.

Mohammed AbuJayyab is a Palestinian-American based in the Los Angeles area. He is one of several plaintiffs suing the federal government over Israel’s entry into the Visa Waiver Program.