Congress, administration spar over legislation to scrap visa requirement for Israeli travelers

Other problems cited included instances of Israeli border officials blocking Americans at the border because of their political views and cases of U.S. citizens being forced to provide authorities with access to their personal email accounts at the risk of deportation."We have very strong concerns about the bill. It allows for the discrimination of U.S. citizens by another country," said Abed Ayoub, legal director of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. "It is reprehensible that U.S. congressional members would allow for such action to take place.

"The State Department and Department of Homeland Security have expressed similar, if narrower, arguments in closed meetings with lawmakers, according to U.S. officials with knowledge of the talks. Those officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly on the matter. They said the administration was working with Israel to improve its border screening methods and with Congress on the wording of any future law. The State Department declined to.ment.In a response to lawmakers dated June 12, Israel's departing ambassador said Americans were being accorded all rights "to which they are entitled" upon arrival in Israel."Given the security challenges we face, every effort is extended in this regard," Michael Oren wrote to Rep.

Keith Ellison and Andre Carson, the two Muslim members of Congress, and the others who signed the original letter.On Joudah's specific case, Oren said the action was based on a r.mendation of Israel's security authorities and that all legal avenues were available to her. But he described such instances as rare.Oren said 142 Americans in all were denied entry to Israel last year, while about 626,000 were allowed in. That amounts to a refusal rate of 0.023 percent, or about 1 in every 4,400 people. The American refusal rate for Israelis seeking U.S. visas was 5.4 percent, he noted.The ambassador also defended the differential treatment Israel provides Americans who are on a Palestinian population registry. These people are allowed to enter and live in Palestinian territory, he said, but they aren't necessarily entitled to enter Israel because of decade-old security regulations enacted during a spike in Israeli-Palestinian violence.