|
If you find TSA screenings at U.S. airports invasive, wait untilyou hear this: Arab Americans attempting to enter Israel or theOccupied Palestinian Territories are now frequently being forced to open up their emails so Israeli border security can go throughtheir messages and chats. When 42-year old Palestinian AmericanSandra Tamari refused to log into her Gmail to let Israeli borderpolice go through it, she was expelled from the country. This is but the latest intrusive measure selectively applied atIsrael's borders. For decades, the Arab American community hassuffered discrimination and harassment by Israeli authorities uponattempting to visit Israel or Palestine. Nearly 3 years ago, theArab American Institute (the organization I work for) wrote a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton complaining about thetreatment of Arab Americans by Israeli border authorities. In thatletter, we recounted the following: Documented cases from the past eight months describe: ArabAmericans trapped in Gaza and prohibited from exiting into Israel;American-born Palestinians forced to surrender their U.S. passportson entry and receive, against their will, a Palestinian IDdocument; numerous reports from American-born U.S. citizens ofPalestinian descent or Arab heritage being singled out forprolonged questioning on entry and departure, and burdensome anddiscriminatory visa requirements imposed upon Palestinian Americansseverely impacting their families and businesses. How does the U.S. government deal with such treatment of Americans?Instead of aggressively defending its citizens' right to travelwithout facing ethnic discrimination or invasive measures byallies, it has chosen to play nice with the Israeli governmentwhile cautioning its own citizens that, U.S. citizens with Arabic or Muslim names, those born in Muslim orMiddle Eastern countries, those who have been involved inmissionary or activist activity, those who ask that Israeli stampsnot be entered into their passport, and other U.S. citizentravelers have been delayed and subjected to close scrutiny byIsraeli border authorities. This is really not good enough. Americans of Arab descent are noless entitled to the protections of American citizenship than otherAmericans, and a friendly reminder of impending harassment upontravel to certain countries falls drastically short of that. TheU.S. government has a serious responsibility here to tell Israel, acountry that draws unprecedented (indeed, too much) military aidand diplomatic support from the U.S., that they must treat all ourcitizens with respect, regardless of their ethnic origin. This is, of course, not just an issue of concern to Arab Americans,because once the mistreatment of one group is acquiesced to, itopens the door for the mistreatment of everyone. If you haven'tnoticed signs of this, consider the strip-searching of Dan Rather's camera crew, the " blatant cruelty " that a pregnant New York Times journalist faced, and countless other examples of Israelimistreatment of visitors. This is the time for all Americans todemand a stronger position from our government on this troublesometrend. Follow Omar Baddar on Twitter: /omarbaddar. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Pluggable Terminal Block Manufacturer , Barrier Terminal Block Manufacturer, and more. For more , please visit PCB Terminal Block today!
Related Articles -
Pluggable Terminal Block Manufacturer, Barrier Terminal Block Manufacturer,
|
