CNN: U.S. to Israel: Ease up on Arab-Americans

[heyholetsgogrant]

U.S. to Israel: Ease up on Arab-Americans

POSTED: 7:47 p.m. EDT, October 19, 2006

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The State Department has complained to the Israeli government about its discriminatory treatment of Arab-Americans traveling to the Palestinian territories, senior State Department officials said Thursday.

Officials said that despite a longstanding policy of issuing visas to Americans traveling to the West Bank and Gaza, the Israeli government has recently denied Palestinian-Americans and certain other Americans entry.

During her recent trip to Israel, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice raised the issue with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, and U.S. diplomats have also recently complained to the Israeli Embassy in Washington, officials said.

"They are being treated as Arabs and not Americans," one senior official said. "They basically treat them as second-class citizens."

In a speech October 11 before the American Task Force on Palestine, Rice acknowledged "continuing problems of security" faced by Palestinian-Americans living and working in Gaza and the West Bank and pledged "to ensure that all American travelers receive fair and equal treatment."

David Siegel, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, told CNN in a phone interview, "We are aware of the issue and it is being treated at senior levels, but we are waiting for more details from the administration on specific cases they have raised."

The Arab American Institute issued a statement Thursday thanking Rice for her efforts to defend the rights of Palestinian-Americans.

"Arab-Americans have been regularly traveling to their ancestral homelands for generations and they have a significant role to play in the reconstruction of the economic and social life in the Occupied Territories," Arab American Institute President James Zogby wrote. "It is important that their right and ability to continue to do so be reaffirmed."

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/10/19/rice.rights/index.html

Source: CNN

[SoCalSkins]

We should deny Israeli citizens entry to the US until they stop messing with our citizens over there.

[herrmag]

Umm, as a Lebanese-American (and American first, served and proud), just like the Palestinians, Jordanians, and not so long ago (until the Israelis appeased them) Egyptians, you mess with us, we will mess with you. When will Islam grasp their roots, and say "hey, you started it, we're the continuation of it"? ALL ONE RELIGION.

Sorry, off subject, but if you follow the timeline of the religion, there's no reason for this bull****. Fine, some moved on, but it's still the SAME DAMN RELIGION.

Edit: Sorry, not necessarily the right thing to say here, but if I see Israel, I think this way.

[SoCalSkins]

Umm, as a Lebanese-American (and American first, served and proud), just like the Palestinians, Jordanians, and not so long ago (until the Israelis appeased them) Egyptians, you mess with us, we will mess with you. When will Islam grasp their roots, and say "hey, you started it, we're the continuation of it"? ALL ONE RELIGION.

Sorry, off subject, but if you follow the timeline of the religion, there's no reason for this bull****. Fine, some moved on, but it's still the SAME DAMN RELIGION.

Edit: Sorry, not necessarily the right thing to say here, but if I see Israel, I think this way.

What does this have to do with Israel denying US citizens visas?

[herrmag]

What does this have to do with Israel denying US citizens visas?

Do about 30 years of history. But fine. Follow my post. You're right. What does Israeli (religion) have to do with this? I don't trust people in this country, and everyday I kiss people that are Arab good bye on my way to work. Get it straight. Has nothing to do with religion. Islam is so divided now, it supports whomever is in charge of that cult. Israel knows that if you come to their country, and you're Islamic, you mean ill will. Simple.

EDIT: You're right, I'm off post, sorry, I might've posted in the wrong thread.

EDIT2; After re-reading my post, I messed up, has nothing to do with this thread, disregard.

[Guest 979guy]

I kiss people that are Arab good bye on my way to work

...so while we're changing topics, here's why you should maybe kiss ME goodbye...

(I just love the part when an Iranian president talks about free research. Good one, Mahmoud!)

Iranian President: Israel will soon disappear

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says at Tehran pro-Palestinian rally, ‘Zionist regime, thank God, has lost all reason to exist; it was established in the heart of Islamic territory for one purpose – to pose a threat to the region through constant attacks and killings’

Dudi Cohen

Whoever thought Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would tone down his messages in the midst of western warnings was wrong.

Ahmadinejad told a crowd of thousands gathered at a pro-Palestinian rally in the capital Tehran Friday that “Israel no longer has a reason to exist, and will soon disappear. The Zionist regime, thank God, has lost all reason to exist”.

“The efforts to stabilize Israel’s fraudulent regime have failed. Believe me, soon this regime will be no longer,” Ahmadinejad continued, “The Zionist regime was established in the heart of Islamic territory for one purpose – to pose a threat to the region through constant attacks and killings.”

“This regime has lost its way of existence. Today, there is no reason left for it to remain, and it is about to disappear,” the Iranian president concluded.

Ahmadinejad yet again connected the Palestinian issue to the Holocaust and said, “Thousands of people (Palestinians) have become refuges as a compensation for Holocaust victims, but is the Holocaust real? Why isn’t it allowed to be freely researched?

“Why do the Palestinian people have to pay its price? The Second World War was their (Jews) first excuse and they claimed that 6 million were killed. Their other excuse was that Jews lived on the land 2,500 years ago and therefore the land belongs to them,” he said.

'We must not be afraid of them'

The Iranian president added that he was encouraged by the second Lebanon war and pointed out that “what happened there showed that there is no limit to Islamic resistance.”

Earlier this week, the Iranian president expressed that he still 'had faith,' and was quoted throughout Iranian media outlets as saying “we will win”, and added, "One day I will be asked whether I have been in touch with someone who told me we would win, and I will respond, 'Yes, I have been in touch with God'."

"We must not be afraid of them," he stated, hinting to the western countries.

Ahmadinejad also noted that although he was at times mocked for his preoccupation with spiritual matters and his use of "divine" words, he was nevertheless certain that Iran would prevail, after having secured the support of international public opinion for its cause.

Meanwhile, Iranian news agencies reported the same day that the Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi addressed the possibility of an attack on Iran and said, “If Americans and Zionists want to try their luck in Iran, they will experience a larger defeat than in Iraq.”

Safavi added during a memorial service held at his headquarters, “We are obligated to our fallen to maintain the readiness and deal a powerful blow on the enemies in case of an attack.

“The Basij (branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) and the Revolutionary Guards are so strong they will not allow the enemy to even think of launching an operation against Iran,” he said.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3317417,00.html

[redskins4life234]

I think the Israeli's are concerned about their well being, and their safety. The US I bet isn't letting certain people in to the country from Afghanstan or any other Middle eastern country, and the ones they do, I bet they did an extra amount of research on. Isreal is striked with a terrorist almost every day! I don't know when the last bombing was, as there hasn't been much news on Israel lately, so 979guy can answer that question as he lives there. And maybe if you speak to 979guy you could possibly understand why his country is doing this. Isreal is sick of being attacked and bullyed, and they don't want to sit back anymore, and thats examples of why they went after the Hezbollah a few months ago. So I understand why Israel is doing this. But instead of maybe turning them down, they should just do more research on a given person.

[SoCalSkins]

I think the Israeli's are concerned about their well being, and their safety. The US I bet isn't letting certain people in to the country from Afghanstan or any other Middle eastern country, and the ones they do, I bet they did an extra amount of research on. Isreal is striked with a terrorist almost every day! I don't know when the last bombing was, as there hasn't been much news on Israel lately, so 979guy can answer that question as he lives there. And maybe if you speak to 979guy you could possibly understand why his country is doing this. Isreal is sick of being attacked and bullyed, and they don't want to sit back anymore, and thats examples of why they went after the Hezbollah a few months ago. So I understand why Israel is doing this. But instead of maybe turning them down, they should just do more research on a given person.

No. The US lets in Israeli Citizens. Israel is denying AMERICAN CITIZENS visas. If they want to divide groups of Americans along racial/cultural lines, then we should immediately deny ALL of their citizens entry to the US at the very least. This should be a much bigger story than it is. They are biting the hand that feeds them. It is one thing to look the other way when they terrorize and oppress their own Arab citizens or Palestinians, but quite another to let them mess with Americans.

[Guest 979guy]

SoCalSkins, here's a case study for you to do:

Pose as an ISRAELI ARAB (i.e. - Israeli citizen, ethnic Arab/Muslim background) and approach the US embassy in Tel Aviv for a visa to the US.

Good luck, my friend...

[SoCalSkins]

SoCalSkins, here's a case study for you to do:

Pose as an ISRAELI ARAB (i.e. - Israeli citizen, ethnic Arab/Muslim background) and approach the US embassy in Tel Aviv for a visa to the US.

Good luck, my friend...

We treat our own citizens equally, they don't treat theirs equally. They are living in a South Africa type situation during apartheid. Just because Israel is an opressive state to its own people and people it occupies, gives them zero right to treat American citizens differently based on racial or cultural lines. If they want to do it to Americans, America needs to slap them with massive retaliation for discriminating gainst our people. Our tax payers effectively keep them in existence.

[Guest 979guy]

We treat our own citizens equally, they don't treat theirs equally. They are living in a South Africa type situation during apartheid. Just because Israel is an opressive state to its own people and people it occupies, gives them zero right to treat American citizens differently based on racial or cultural lines. If they want to do it to Americans, America needs to slap them with massive retaliation for discriminating gainst our people. Our tax payers effectively keep them in existence.

You are writing a lot of BS, pardon my French, and you haven't even read what I wrote, or you choose to ignore it:

I am telling you that AMERICA is discriminating between Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews, making it much harder for the Arabs to attain a visa to the US. And now for your learned, scientifically based response:....

[redskins4life234]

SoCalSkins, I believe 979guy knows what hes saying. The US has been more difficult letting in any Arab post 9/11, and Israel as been terrorized since exstience, and they will also be more difficult letting in an Arab. Israel has done so many things that they didn't need to or shouldn't of done to make peace, but the Palenstians and other Arab Terrorist keep terroizing them, so they a right to say, these people are attacking us, we don't want them in my country. You clearly don't understand what goes on in Israel.