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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="http://www.palestinechronicle.com/israel-bars-us-medics-from-entering-gaza-citing-links-to-bds/">http://www.palestinechronicle.com/israel-bars-us-medics-from-entering-gaza-citing-links-to-bds/</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Israel Bars US Medics from Entering
Gaza, Citing Links to BDS</h1>
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<div class="reader-estimated-time"><span
class="entry-meta-date updated"><a
href="http://www.palestinechronicle.com/2018/10/">October
11, 2018</a></span></div>
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<p>Israeli authorities have refused entry to the occupied
Gaza Strip to two members of a US medical delegation
because they are Jewish, reported Haaretz.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<blockquote data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">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 <a href="https://t.co/t3RO2DYTQv">https://t.co/t3RO2DYTQv</a></p>
<p>— Adalah-NY (@AdalahNY) <a
href="https://twitter.com/AdalahNY/status/1050128544418975745?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October
10, 2018</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>After Israeli human rights NGO Gisha petitioned the
Supreme Court, Haaretz reported,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“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”.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>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.</p>
<blockquote data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">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 <a href="https://t.co/4m3qLsTQ0t">https://t.co/4m3qLsTQ0t</a></p>
<p>— Rebecca Pierce (@aptly_engineerd) <a
href="https://twitter.com/aptly_engineerd/status/1049443500901556225?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October
8, 2018</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>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”.</p>
<p>Explaining the entry refusal last month, the Israeli
army noted:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Many of the applicants are Jews, for whom the risk
of going to the Gaza Strip is routinely more
significant”.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Even Jews don't have freedom of
speech in Israel:<br>
"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."<a
href="https://twitter.com/ISMPalestine?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ISMPalestine</a></p>
<p>— M (@Pakeha56) <a
href="https://twitter.com/Pakeha56/status/1050346902036733952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October
11, 2018</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>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,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The people she met in Gaza are aware that she is
Jewish and that her Judaism had never posed a
problem”.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Israel bars two members of U.S.
medical delegation from entering Gaza because they're
Jewish</p>
<p>— andre (@andre17572805) <a
href="https://twitter.com/andre17572805/status/1050348257266814977?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October
11, 2018</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>The physician who was refused entry, Dr. Donald
Mellman, has visited the Gaza Strip seven times.</p>
<p>Israeli authorities also claimed that the physicians’
organization is “involved in activities that encourage
boycotting Israel, in cooperation with the BDS
movement”.</p>
<p>(<em>MEMO, PC, Social Media</em>)</p>
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