Israel denies entry to Noam Chomsky

[al Haq]

If Israel feels it cannot survive free speech, then it is one step closer to flirting with totalitarianism.

Professor Noam Chomsky, the left-wing radical thinker and activist, is regularly voted the most influential public intellectual in the world. He has been highly critical of Israel’s policies for many years, particularly since the time of the first Lebanon war in 1982.

On Sunday, Chomsky was denied entry at the Allenby Bridge on his way from Amman to Ramallah, where he was scheduled to lecture about American foreign policy at Bir Zeit University.

...

Nobody in his right mind can claim that Chomsky represents a security threat to Israel. He’s 81 years old. He is not a specialist on armed insurrection, and he has never called for violence against Israel.

...

So just for the record: Chomsky is in favor of the two-state solution, and neither calls for violence against Israel nor for dismantling the state. He is even against an academic boycott of Israel’s universities – a rather popular cause of the European left in recent years.

...


I have never heard of a democratic state denying entry to thinkers (or anybody else for that matter) who neither call for violence or break local or international law. So what on earth is happening to Israel?

...

Linkie:
Israel is encouraging academic boycott by denying entry to Chomsky - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

 

[P F Tinmore]

So the Palestinians invite a Jew to speak and it is Israel that slams on the brakes.

Dontcha just love these religious conflicts?

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

If Israel feels it cannot survive free speech, then it is one step closer to flirting with totalitarianism.

Professor Noam Chomsky, the left-wing radical thinker and activist, is regularly voted the most influential public intellectual in the world. He has been highly critical of Israel’s policies for many years, particularly since the time of the first Lebanon war in 1982.

On Sunday, Chomsky was denied entry at the Allenby Bridge on his way from Amman to Ramallah, where he was scheduled to lecture about American foreign policy at Bir Zeit University.

...

Nobody in his right mind can claim that Chomsky represents a security threat to Israel. He’s 81 years old. He is not a specialist on armed insurrection, and he has never called for violence against Israel.

...

So just for the record: Chomsky is in favor of the two-state solution, and neither calls for violence against Israel nor for dismantling the state. He is even against an academic boycott of Israel’s universities – a rather popular cause of the European left in recent years.

...


I have never heard of a democratic state denying entry to thinkers (or anybody else for that matter) who neither call for violence or break local or international law. So what on earth is happening to Israel?

...

Linkie:
Israel is encouraging academic boycott by denying entry to Chomsky - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

I would bet most democracies have tried to ban entry to an academic at one time or another. Nothing new here. The two-state solution is unpopular with Palestinian activists and the progressive left in America as well as some who are strident Israeli hawks (not all hawks are blind to a 2 state solution).

The link is to Haaretz, a Jewish/Israeli media. Never going to see such in sights or self criticism coming from Palestinian activists.

By his own account, it seems the authorities had been expecting to detain him because he was respectfully asked to follow a young man, who seemed somewhat embarrassed by the task, for questioning.

During the hours there, the young man repeatedly spoke on the phone, apparently to the Interior Ministry in Jerusalem.

a ministry asshole denied Noam entry. It's internal politics. and quotes like this one: "I have never heard of a democratic state denying entry to thinkers (or anybody else for that matter) who neither call for violence or break local or international law. So..." are either purposefully disingenuous or worse.

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

So the Palestinians invite a Jew to speak and it is Israel that slams on the brakes.

Dontcha just love these religious conflicts?

Chomsky is a Jew.

The Ministry was wrong to deny Noam a chance to spout his idiocies.

 

[hjmick]

They're probably just as sick of seeing him quoted on message boards as I am...

 

[al Haq]

I would bet most democracies have tried to ban entry to an academic at one time or another. Nothing new here. The two-state solution is unpopular with Palestinian activists and the progressive left in America as well as some who are strident Israeli hawks (not all hawks are blind to a 2 state solution).

Chomsky has been denied entry to only one country - Czechoslovakia. It was in 1968, after the Soviet invasion, when he tried to visit Czech leader and political reformist Alexander Dubcek.

The link is to Haaretz, a Jewish/Israeli media. Never going to see such in sights or self criticism coming from Palestinian activists.

Which Palestinian media do you read or watch?

a ministry asshole denied Noam entry. It's internal politics. and quotes like this one: "I have never heard of a democratic state denying entry to thinkers (or anybody else for that matter) who neither call for violence or break local or international law. So..." are either purposefully disingenuous or worse.

So disingenuous that after seeing world reaction, the Israeli government has gone into full damage-control mode:

Government spokesmen were mortified at the development and issued statements saying that the decision was made by an Interior Ministry official at the Jordan-West Bank border and did not represent policy.

“There is no change in our policy,” said Mark Regev, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “The idea that Israel is preventing people from entering whose opinions are critical of the state is ludicrous; it is not happening. This was a mishap. A guy at the border overstepped his authority.”

Mr. Regev suggested that if Professor Chomsky tried to enter again, he would succeed.

But Professor Chomsky said in a television interview from Jordan with Al Jazeera that the Interior Ministry official who interviewed him was on the phone with other ministry officials during the several hours of questioning on Sunday at the West Bank border and that he was taking instructions from his superiors.

Linkie:
Israel Roiled After Chomsky Barred From West Bank - NYTimes.com

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

Which Palestinian media do you read or watch?

The one that calls for death to America and celebrates 911 as a victory?

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

...

So disingenuous that after seeing world reaction, the Israeli government has gone into full damage-control mode:
...

Not too bright are ya, Yasser? I said it was a bonehead move on the part of the Ministry.

But it hardly spells trouble for Israeli democracy. As a matter of fact, democracy is well served by the inside debates in Israel. If only Arab democracies (how many are there?) could have such open and free debates without bloodshed.

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

Government spokesmen were mortified at the development and issued statements saying that the decision was made by an Interior Ministry official at the Jordan-West Bank border and did not represent policy.

“There is no change in our policy,” said Mark Regev, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “The idea that Israel is preventing people from entering whose opinions are critical of the state is ludicrous; it is not happening. This was a mishap. A guy at the border overstepped his authority.”

Mr. Regev suggested that if Professor Chomsky tried to enter again, he would succeed.

Noam's idiocies are given another chance to survive by his misrepresenting what happened. He will insist it is people high up who kept him out. Why? Grandiosity?

oy vey

then there is this tidbit...

Late last month, Ivan Prado, one of Spain’s most famous clowns, spent six hours at Ben-Gurion airport in Tel Aviv being questioned before being sent back to Madrid.

It appears Chomsky is in good company.

send in the clowns?

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

They're probably just as sick of seeing him quoted on message boards as I am...

 

[Marc39]

I would bet most democracies have tried to ban entry to an academic at one time or another. Nothing new here. The two-state solution is unpopular with Palestinian activists and the progressive left in America as well as some who are strident Israeli hawks (not all hawks are blind to a 2 state solution).

Chomsky has been denied entry to only one country - Czechoslovakia. It was in 1968, after the Soviet invasion, when he tried to visit Czech leader and political reformist Alexander Dubcek.

The link is to Haaretz, a Jewish/Israeli media. Never going to see such in sights or self criticism coming from Palestinian activists.

Which Palestinian media do you read or watch?

a ministry asshole denied Noam entry. It's internal politics. and quotes like this one: "I have never heard of a democratic state denying entry to thinkers (or anybody else for that matter) who neither call for violence or break local or international law. So..." are either purposefully disingenuous or worse.

So disingenuous that after seeing world reaction, the Israeli government has gone into full damage-control mode:

Government spokesmen were mortified at the development and issued statements saying that the decision was made by an Interior Ministry official at the Jordan-West Bank border and did not represent policy.

“There is no change in our policy,” said Mark Regev, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “The idea that Israel is preventing people from entering whose opinions are critical of the state is ludicrous; it is not happening. This was a mishap. A guy at the border overstepped his authority.”

Mr. Regev suggested that if Professor Chomsky tried to enter again, he would succeed.

But Professor Chomsky said in a television interview from Jordan with Al Jazeera that the Interior Ministry official who interviewed him was on the phone with other ministry officials during the several hours of questioning on Sunday at the West Bank border and that he was taking instructions from his superiors.

Linkie:
Israel Roiled After Chomsky Barred From West Bank - NYTimes.com

Abdullah, given Arab Muslim countries are fascist toilet bowls that deny even basic freedom of speech, you're not really in a position to weigh in on Israel, a country with freedom of speech that also has the right, like America, France and other countries, to deny entry of those seeking to incite violence.

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

I would bet most democracies have tried to ban entry to an academic at one time or another. Nothing new here. The two-state solution is unpopular with Palestinian activists and the progressive left in America as well as some who are strident Israeli hawks (not all hawks are blind to a 2 state solution).

Chomsky has been denied entry to only one country - Czechoslovakia. It was in 1968, after the Soviet invasion, when he tried to visit Czech leader and political reformist Alexander Dubcek.



Which Palestinian media do you read or watch?



So disingenuous that after seeing world reaction, the Israeli government has gone into full damage-control mode:

Government spokesmen were mortified at the development and issued statements saying that the decision was made by an Interior Ministry official at the Jordan-West Bank border and did not represent policy.

“There is no change in our policy,” said Mark Regev, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “The idea that Israel is preventing people from entering whose opinions are critical of the state is ludicrous; it is not happening. This was a mishap. A guy at the border overstepped his authority.”

Mr. Regev suggested that if Professor Chomsky tried to enter again, he would succeed.

But Professor Chomsky said in a television interview from Jordan with Al Jazeera that the Interior Ministry official who interviewed him was on the phone with other ministry officials during the several hours of questioning on Sunday at the West Bank border and that he was taking instructions from his superiors.

Linkie:
Israel Roiled After Chomsky Barred From West Bank - NYTimes.com

Abdullah, given Arab Muslim countries are fascist toilet bowls that deny even basic freedom of speech, you're not really in a position to weigh in on Israel, a country with freedom of speech that also has the right, like America, France and other countries, to deny entry of those seeking to incite violence.

Frigiin' idiot doesn't see the glaring fact that the criticism of Israeli government action is coming from the Israeli people.

 

[Marc39]

Chomsky has been denied entry to only one country - Czechoslovakia. It was in 1968, after the Soviet invasion, when he tried to visit Czech leader and political reformist Alexander Dubcek.



Which Palestinian media do you read or watch?



So disingenuous that after seeing world reaction, the Israeli government has gone into full damage-control mode:



Linkie:
Israel Roiled After Chomsky Barred From West Bank - NYTimes.com

Abdullah, given Arab Muslim countries are fascist toilet bowls that deny even basic freedom of speech, you're not really in a position to weigh in on Israel, a country with freedom of speech that also has the right, like America, France and other countries, to deny entry of those seeking to incite violence.

Frigiin' idiot doesn't see the glaring fact that the criticism of Israeli government action is coming from the Israeli people.

Arabs aren't too bright. Over 100 million are illiterate, according to the Arab League.