Biden-Harris Administration Should Immediately Suspend Israel Visa Waiver Program Implementation Until Palestinian-Americans Residing In Gaza Are Included With Same Status As Citizens Of Israel And Nationals Of Israel

The United States Government Must Not Be An Enabler Of Passport Apartheid By The State Of Israel

Citizens Of Israel, Nationals Of Israel, Israeli-Americans Are Not Worth More Than Palestinian-Americans

Who Is In Control Of United States Borders- The State Of Israel Or The Government Of The United States?

• “There are also inconsistencies between the language in the MOU and the Government of Israel’s guidance that purports to implement its provisions. Specifically, while the MOU states that “All U.S. citizens and nationals traveling with a U.S. passport (hereinafter “U.S. citizens”) are to be recognized by Israel as U.S. citizens,5 ” the guidance published the same day on the Israeli Population and Immigration Authority website states that visa waiver travel “does not include U.S. citizens whose documents identify them as residents of the Gaza Strip”6— regardless of their final travel destination. We have already learned of a number of U.S. citizen families who flew to Israel to take advantage of visa waiver travel under the new MOU who were denied entry for having Gaza IDs.”  Excerpt From Letter By Fifteen Members Of The United States Senate To Antony Blinken, United States Secretary Of State

Department of Homeland Security
Washington DC
27 September 2023

“Today, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas, in consultation with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, announced the designation of Israel into the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). By November 30, 2023, the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) will be updated to allow citizens and nationals of Israel to apply to travel to the United States for tourism or business purposes for up to 90 days without first obtaining a U.S. visa, a step which further strengthens the security, economic and people-to-people ties between the United States and Israel. Following updates in Israel’s travel policies, all U.S. citizens may request entry to Israel for up to 90 days for business, tourism, or transit without obtaining a visa.

“The designation of Israel into the Visa Waiver Program is an important recognition of our shared security interests and the close cooperation between our two countries,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas. “This designation, which represents over a decade of work and coordination between the United States and Israel, will enhance our two nations’ collaboration on counterterrorism, law enforcement, and our other common priorities. Israel’s entry into the Visa Waiver Program, and the stringent requirements it entails, will make both of our nations more secure.”

“Israel’s entry into the Visa Waiver Program represents a critical step forward in our strategic partnership with Israel that will further strengthen long-standing people-to-people engagement, economic cooperation, and security coordination between our two countries,” said Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken. “This important achievement will enhance freedom of movement for U.S. citizens, including those living in the Palestinian Territories or traveling to and from them.”

The Visa Waiver Program is designed to enhance the security of the United States and partner countries while encouraging legitimate travel and commerce. The program builds comprehensive security partnerships between the United States and designated countries that meet strict requirements related to counterterrorism, law enforcement, immigration enforcement, document security, and border management. These requirements include confirmation that a country issues secure travel documents, extends visa-free privileges to all U.S. citizens without regard to national origin, religion, or ethnicity; works closely with U.S. law enforcement and counterterrorism authorities; and for initial designation, has a rate of nonimmigrant visitor visa refusals below 3% during the previous full fiscal year. Israel put forth a significant whole-of-government effort to meet all program requirements, including passing multiple new laws, establishing information sharing systems, and implementing new entry procedures for all U.S. citizens.

In advance of this designation, Israel made updates to its entry policies to meet the VWP requirement to extend reciprocal privileges to all U.S. citizens without regard to national origin, religion, or ethnicity. DHS monitored Israel’s compliance with these requirements and engaged with Palestinian-Americans both living in the West Bank and living in the United States, who now have the ability to enter Israel visa free, and fly in and out of Ben Gurion airport, reducing barriers to travel for these Americans.

Today’s designation is not the end of the process. As is the process with all VWP countries, the U.S. Government will continue to engage with the Government of Israel while monitoring its continued implementation of all program requirements, including the reciprocity commitments it made to the United States on July 19, 2023.

Under the VWP, on November 30, 2023, citizens and nationals of Israel will be able to apply online for authorization to travel to the United States through the ESTA. These authorizations are generally valid for two years. Israeli citizens with valid B-1/B-2 visas may continue to use them for business and tourist travel to the United States. ESTA applications may be found at esta.cbp.dhs.gov or download the “ESTA Mobile” app through the iOS App Store or Google Play store.  Israel is the 41st member of the VWP. More information on the VWP can be found at https://www.dhs.gov/visa-waiver-program.”  LINK To Federal Register Document

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JERUSALEM/GAZA, September 11 (Reuters)- Israel eased travel for Palestinian Americans from the Gaza Strip on Monday as part of final preparations for a deal enabling Israelis to enter the United States without visas, Israeli and U.S. officials said.  As a condition for its accession to the U.S. Visa Waiver Program (VWP), Israel has since July 20 loosened access through its borders, and in and out of the occupied West Bank, for Palestinian Americans in a pilot period.

The deadline for Israel to show compliance with the U.S. conditions is Sept 30. If successful, it expects to be incorporated in the VWP by November - a respite for relations strained by disputes over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial reforms and policies on the Palestinians.

Gaza, whose ruling Hamas Islamists are on Israeli and U.S. terrorism blacklists and whose borders are blockaded by Israel and Egypt, had been excluded from the pilot. That stirred protests by Palestinian Americans and U.S. calls for a change in policy.  Israel's Interior Ministry said that, as of Monday, Palestinian Americans living in Gaza and who are not deemed security threats are able to enter Israel on "B2" tourist visas, which also gives them the option of flying out of its airports.  The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem confirmed the new policy.

Palestinian Americans from abroad are still largely precluded from visiting Gaza. As a stop-gap, Israel has said it would allow those who have first-degree relatives there to apply for permission to make once-yearly visits of up to 90 days.

"This is an improvement that doesn't really add any value," Hani Almadhoun, a Palestinian American from the Washington, DC area, told Reuters. He said he felt like he was being told: "You may come and have a picnic in Israel, but you might not be able to go see your family which is really just minutes (away)."

Under the pilot, more than 5,400 Palestinian Americans have entered Israel or crossed its boundary with the West Bank, according to Interior Ministry figures. It said 51 Palestinian Americans have been refused entry, 49 on suspicion of planning to overstay their visas and two as potential security threats.

The U.S. Embassy says some Palestinian Americans have complained of being barred from travelling between Israel and the West Bank by car. On Monday, it said a joint U.S.-Israeli team begin talks "to develop solutions over the coming months".  Between 45,000 and 60,000 Palestinian Americans live in the West Bank, a U.S. official estimated. An Israeli official gave lower figures, saying that of 70,000 to 90,000 Palestinian Americans worldwide, 15,000 to 20,000 are West Bank residents.

Israel previously said it intended to include Palestinian Americans living in Gaza - whose number it puts at between 100 and 130 - on Sept 15 but would try to bring the date forward.  Palestinian and U.S. officials have assessed that the number of dual U.S. nationals in Gaza may be several hundred. Asked about the apparent discrepancy in the figures, an Israeli official said most of those are not full-time Gaza residents.

JERUSALEM/GAZA, October 11 (NBC News)- Some Israelis desperate to flee to the United States in the wake of the Hamas terror attack are struggling to get visas because a new system to facilitate easy visa-free travel between the U.S. and Israel is not scheduled to go into effect until Nov. 30.

The new visa waiver status for Israel was announced by the Department of Homeland Security in late September, and officials tell NBC News they don’t plan to speed up the launch of the program.

Adi Rosenbaum, 35, spoke from the Tel Aviv apartment she shares with her husband and her two young daughters.

They want to go to Manhattan to stay with her sister, but her 1-year-old doesn’t have a U.S visa.  Her husband went to the U.S. Embassy branch office in Tel Aviv this week to apply for a visa for the baby, but said it was closed. She said the family has called and emailed without success.  Rosenbaum broke down in tears, confused by the U.S. government’s failure to move up the start date for the visa waiver program.  “If there is anyway the U.S. government can help Jewish people so we won’t get slaughtered, please help,” she said. “We are just lost. We have no idea how to make it happen… The videos won’t leave my mind. I don’t want my kids to see my crying…. I hope things don’t escalate,” she said. “We are just trying to make it here until the end of November. We are trying to be strong to my girls. We are praying for this to end.”

A State Department spokesperson said that the embassy branches in Israel are prioritizing helping U.S. citizens: "At this time, visa processing at the U.S. Embassy in Israel has been suspended and visa appointments have been cancelled. Visa applicants should monitor the U.S. Embassy website for updates.”  Visas require in-person appointments. The embassy website states, "All in-person Passport Unit appointments are by online appointment only. No consular appointments are made by phone or email. No walk-ins are permitted."  One DHS official told NBC News that visa-free travel for Israeli citizens and nationals will not begin immediately “due to operational steps that must be taken prior to the commencement of travel.”  Said the official, “We expect that starting no later than November 30, 2023, the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) will be updated to allow Israelis to apply to travel to the United States for tourism or business for up to 90 days without obtaining a U.S. visa.”  Another DHS official said the administration has no plans at this time to open other expeditious pathways for Israelis seeking to flee to the U.S. such as Special Immigrant Visas and humanitarian parole, both of which were recently made available to people escaping violence in Afghanistan and Ukraine. 

Forty other countries have a reciprocal visa waiver program agreement with the U.S., which means red tape for travelers is limited. Countries with agreements include Australia, Japan and nearly every nation in Europe.  The visa waiver program is a reciprocal arrangement, in which a citizen of one country is granted a visa waiver when traveling to the other country.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides described how a new waiver program would work in a January Twitter post, saying that once the program is implemented Israelis would be able to travel to the United States with no visa. He added, “Any American regardless of their national origin, religion or ethnicity will be able to travel to Israel, for an example Arab-Americans including Palestinian- Americans will be able to get on a plane and fly directly to Ben Gurion airport [in Tel Aviv] and go see your aunt in Bethlehem.”

Yotam Lior, 40, and his wife, Rachel Forbes, decided that they could not wait for visa approval to get to the United States with their two children. The family chose to flee to Cyprus amid warnings from the Israeli government that they needed to conserve food and water in the coming weeks.  Lior spoke to NBC News from the Tel Aviv airport, where he was juggling his two young children as he waited for his Cyprus flight. “The U.S. is sending battleships and aircraft carriers to Israel, but Israeli citizens still have to go through this tedious process. If you ask me it doesn’t benefit anyone.”  Forbes told NBC News she feels they had no choice but to leave because they fear they’re in danger, “It’s a real war and Israel is in serious risk,” she said. “We are attacked from north to south with an enemy that has nothing to lose.”

In early September, 15 Senate Democrats wrote a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken opposing the addition of Israel to the visa waiver program, citing Israel’s request for a special separate visa category for residents of the West Bank or Gaza. Residents of Gaza are not included at all, according to the letter.  “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 senators wrote.  Israel has proposed that it could implement a new system that included residents of the West Bank as of May 2024.  LINK To 15 September 2023 Letter

LINK TO COMPLETE ANALYSIS IN PDF FORMAT