(WASHINGTON, D.C., 9/11/23) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest American Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today welcomed a letter sent by U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), along with 13 of their colleagues, to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressing their concerns about Israel’s non-compliance with key Visa Waiver Program (VWP) admission requirements.
The letter questions the legality of admitting Israel amid widespread reports of discriminating against American Palestinians and Muslims – concluding that the State Department cannot admit Israel at the expense of it violating anti-discrimination principles and “the requirement of reciprocity for all U.S. citizens.”
CLICK HERE: READ THE LETTER: Van Hollen, Schatz Lead More Than a Dozen Colleagues in Letter to Administration on Israel’s Non-Compliance with Key Visa Waiver Program Requirements | U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland
CAIR is urging every American to take part in its easy to use click-and-send action alert to contact their member of Congress to express their opposition to admitting Israel into the U.S. Visa Waiver Program until it ends its ongoing abuses of Americans, including American Muslims and Palestinian-Americans.
In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
“We commend Senators Van Hollen and Schatz – and other senators – for their principled leadership on this issue. It is clear that Israel is not currently in compliance with the Visa Waiver Program admission requirements, and the Biden administration must not rush to admit Israel into the program at the expense of the ‘Blue is Blue’ principle and the requirement of reciprocity for all U.S. citizens.
“CAIR has received and passed along multiple reports of Israel discriminating against and harassing American Palestinians and Muslims at every possible point while trying to enter and cross through Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza.
“We strongly urge Secretary Blinken and the Biden administration to heed the concerns raised by Senators Van Hollen and Schatz and to delay Israel’s admission into the Visa Waiver Program until it can fully comply with all of the requirements and not harass and discriminate against Palestinian-American and American Muslim travelers.”
Last month, CAIR filed several formal complaints with the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security alleging discriminatory, abusive, and traumatic treatment of American citizens by Israeli government agents at Ben Gurion Airport, Allenby Bridge Border Crossing, and checkpoints within the country during the ongoing U.S. visa waiver trial period.
About the Letter
Sent last Friday, in the letter, the Senators note that Israel is not currently in compliance with reciprocity requirements for the U.S. Visa Waiver Program and is not on track to meet them before the September 30th deadline. The letter notes that it would be against U.S. law to rush admit to Israel into the Visa Waiver Program if it does not meet all the requirements, let alone if it may not be able to meet some of the requirements next year.
The Senators point out that the MOU as signed between the United States and Israel on July 19, 2023: “envisions that the program would be launched with a two-tiered system that discriminates between different groups of U.S. citizens – a system that clearly fails to meet the reciprocity requirements of the law.” CAIR agrees that these exceptions are not just discriminatory and hypocritical, they are illegal under U.S. law.
Moreover, the letter continues with: “According to the MOU itself, Israel is not expected to fully implement one system that all U.S. citizen travelers can use for purposes of visa waiver travel until May 1, 2024, well beyond the September 30, 2023 deadline for meeting program requirements. The MOU states that Israel will employ ‘an interim process for a U.S. citizen who is a resident of the West Bank.’ Such a two-tiered system of entry inherently violates the Administration’s own standard for reciprocity that ‘Blue is Blue’ – meaning “equal treatment and freedom of travel for all U.S. citizens regardless of national origin, religion, or ethnicity.”
The letter also adds: “We do know that it would be a violation of law to rush to admit a country that does not meet a key requirement of the program in one year simply because it may not be able to comply with a different requirement the following year.”
The letter concludes by affirming that: “While we very much hope that Israel will meet all the requirements at some future date, its entry into the program cannot come at the expense of the “Blue is Blue” principle and the requirement of reciprocity for all U.S. citizens.”
CAIR notes in November 2022, it welcomed a similar 20-congressional-member letter led by Congressman Don Beyer (D-CA) to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken demanding Israel end its “discriminatory” treatment of Palestinian-Americans who often face severe entry restrictions or outright travel bans when attempting to enter Israel, including when visiting family members in the occupied West Bank.
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com