[News] Israel Bars US Medics from Entering Gaza, Citing Links to BDS

[Anti-Imperialist News]

http://www.palestinechronicle.com/israel-bars-us-medics-from-entering-gaza-citing-links-to-bds/ 



  Israel Bars US Medics from Entering Gaza, Citing Links to BDS

October 11, 2018 <http://www.palestinechronicle.com/2018/10/>
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Israeli authorities have refused entry to the occupied Gaza Strip to two 
members of a US medical delegation because they are Jewish, reported 
Haaretz.

Initially, the refusal was extended to the entire group, from the 
Washington branch of Physicians for Social Responsibility, citing the 
organization’s alleged involvement with the Boycott, Divestment and 
Sanctions (BDS) movement.

    Israel bars 2 from of US medical delegation from entering Gaza
    because they're Jewish. Israel first refused to let the entire group
    enter due to members' Jewish origins & alleged BDS ties, but folded
    after a petition by legal center for freedom of movement
    https://t.co/t3RO2DYTQv

    — Adalah-NY (@AdalahNY) October 10, 2018
    <https://twitter.com/AdalahNY/status/1050128544418975745?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

After Israeli human rights NGO Gisha petitioned the Supreme Court, 
Haaretz reported,

    “The state backtracked on those two reasons and said it would permit
    eight of the delegation’s 10 members to enter the Strip as planned,
    on October 21”.

However, in regard to two of the members — “a neurosurgeon and a social 
worker with considerable experience treating people with trauma 
disorders” — the state said they required “additional security checks”. 
The state’s final response is reportedly due tomorrow.

    Israel's undemocratic anti-BDS law is only further isolating the
    country and it's institutions from the world. Hard to see
    universities keeping exchange programs with a country that
    detains/deports visa-holding students on the basis of race and
    politics https://t.co/4m3qLsTQ0t

    — Rebecca Pierce (@aptly_engineerd) October 8, 2018
    <https://twitter.com/aptly_engineerd/status/1049443500901556225?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

The delegation is attempting to enter the blockaded enclave in order to 
carry out “consultations with colleagues on various medical issues”, as 
well as to provide “medical treatment and instruction in the clinics of 
the host organization, the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme”.

Explaining the entry refusal last month, the Israeli army noted:

    “Many of the applicants are Jews, for whom the risk of going to the
    Gaza Strip is routinely more significant”.

    Even Jews don't have freedom of speech in Israel:
    "An American student has become the latest victim of Israel’s law
    targeting supporters of the global [] (BDS) movement. Lara Alqasem,
    22, has been held since last Tuesday at Israel’s Ben Gurion
    Airport."@ISMPalestine
    <https://twitter.com/ISMPalestine?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

    — M (@Pakeha56) October 11, 2018
    <https://twitter.com/Pakeha56/status/1050346902036733952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

However, as Haaretz reported, D’vorah Kost, one of the two delegation 
members who was refused entry, has visited the Gaza Strip twice: in an 
affidavit, she wrote that,

    “The people she met in Gaza are aware that she is Jewish and that
    her Judaism had never posed a problem”.

    Israel bars two members of U.S. medical delegation from entering
    Gaza because they're Jewish

    — andre (@andre17572805) October 11, 2018
    <https://twitter.com/andre17572805/status/1050348257266814977?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

The physician who was refused entry, Dr. Donald Mellman, has visited the 
Gaza Strip seven times.

Israeli authorities also claimed that the physicians’ organization is 
“involved in activities that encourage boycotting Israel, in cooperation 
with the BDS movement”.

(/MEMO, PC, Social Media/)

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