Update:
Israel News
Jerusalem Post
Haaretz
Note from Jez:
Why, you might ask, should we care about one US academic (who happens to be Jewish)? After all, there are people suffering on the ground, people being stopped at checkpoints, road blocks, on a daily basis. Well, in my opinion, we should care for the very reason he was probably arrested and deported: his high profile and to deny him his freedom of speech.
I urge you to act, in the name of free speech and democracy. Whether or not you agree with the sources quoted in the mail below is another matter.
Furthermore, even if it is indeed Shabbath, it is important to act immediately or ASAP.
Israel News
In thinking of this case, I am reminded of a very similar one here in the U.S. in which the Department of Homeland Security revoked a visa for Tariq Ramadan, the European Muslim scholar who intended to teach a course at Notre Dame. DHS made a similarly vague statement that Ramadan was denied entry on security grounds. His U.S. government interrogators similarly noted that he had donated money to groups affiliated with Hamas (before that group was listed as a terror organization). Daniel Pipes had argued publicly that Ramadan supported Islamic terror and the former had forwarded his claims to DHS. It is likely that Pipes' false claims about Ramadan's sympathy for terrorism played a similar role in his exclusion from the U.S.
Jerusalem Post
Officials said that the decision to deport Finkelstein was connected to his anti-Zionist opinions and fierce public criticism of Israel around the world.
Haaretz
The Shin Bet said Finkelstein "is not permitted to enter Israel because of suspicions involving hostile elements in Lebanon," and because he "did not give a full accounting to interrogators with regard to these suspicions."
Note from Jez:
Why, you might ask, should we care about one US academic (who happens to be Jewish)? After all, there are people suffering on the ground, people being stopped at checkpoints, road blocks, on a daily basis. Well, in my opinion, we should care for the very reason he was probably arrested and deported: his high profile and to deny him his freedom of speech.
I urge you to act, in the name of free speech and democracy. Whether or not you agree with the sources quoted in the mail below is another matter.
Furthermore, even if it is indeed Shabbath, it is important to act immediately or ASAP.
ACT NOW: Flood the Israeli Ministry of Interior with faxes, emails, calls. DEMAND THAT DR. FINKELSTEIN BE PERMITTED TO ENTER ISRAEL IN ORDER TO REACH THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY!
Minister of Interior Mr. Meir SHEETRITIsraeli Ministry of the Interior2 Kaplan St., Qiryat Ben-GurionP.O. Box 6158, 91061 JerusalemTel. +972-2-670-1411 / +972-2-629-4722Fax: +972-2-670-1628
or
Mr. Meir SHEETRIT's numbers at the KnessetTelephone 1: +972-2-640-8410Telephone 2: +972-2- 640-8409Fax: +972-2- 640-8920Email: mshitrit@knesset.gov.il
It is now Friday night and the Ministry will be closed through Saturday for the Jewish Sabbath. Thus, if you are in the US please call your congressman and senator NOW and advise them a Jewish American U.S. citizen is being denied access to Israel!!
Also, CALL the STATE DEPT's Hotline for American Travelers: 202-647-5225 and let them know this is happening and is in violation of international law.
If you are an Israeli, please start working the phones...this denial of entry is all being done in your name!!
The only 'democracy' in the Middle East strikes again,Sam
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Democracy Now
Israel Arrests Outspoken Academic Norman Finkelstein
And the American academic Norman Finkelstein has been arrested and ordered deported from Israel. Finkelstein arrived in Tel Aviv earlier today on his way to the Occupied Territories. He was immediately detained and told he is banned from Israel for ten years. He's expected to be deported tomorrow. Finkelstein is known one of the most prominent academic critics of Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
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US political author Norman Finkelstein denied entry to Israel
05.23.2008 | Monsters & Critics
Jerusalem - The US political author and critic of Israel Norman Finkelstein was denied entry to the Jewish state on Friday, his lawyer said.
Finkelstein landed at Ben Gurion international airport near Tel Aviv in the early morning and was told by a representative of the ministry of interior that he would not be allowed into the country on 'security' grounds, attorney Michael Sfard told dpa.
'This usually means a 10-year ban on entry,' Sfard added.
Finkelstein, who is Jewish and the son of Holocaust survivors, has written critical books on Israeli policies in the Palestinian territories and on what he called 'exploitation' of the Jewish tragedy during World War II.
Finkelstein has received with the fierce disapproval of some authors and academics, while others have praised his controversial works.
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