US Denies entry to Israeli students . . .

[Just_A_Guy]

. . . if they are nuclear physicists working on Israel's reactor. Story here.

Iranians, apparently, are still welcome. (Partisan story here.)

Thoughts?

Edited April 8, 2010 by Just_A_Guy

[talisyn]

It's no secret, the Obama administration is not at all happy with Israel at the moment. I love Israel and am glad to see it all scrappy and stuff, but it seems determined to bite the US hand that feeds it. This is merely a 'you play nice or we take our ball away' approach to a delicate situation.

The Iranian situation is similar but with a few differences. If some of the more educated in Iran can be 'turned' to the West then that's all to our benefit. After all, it was the college kids that tried to change the gov't last year. But I agree with the writer of the article. Use the opportunity to study here as a carrot and we might not have to use quite so big of a stick

[Just_A_Guy]

I dunno. If the Administration's thinking is that teaching Iranians nuclear physics will make them love us so much that they'd never use that knowledge against us or our allies - I've got a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell them.

IIRC - Admiral Yamamoto--architect of Pearl Harbor--studied in America for years.

[ColorMEreal]

The Obama Administration has burned years and years of a good union, a really good relationship that we once shared with Israel. Even president Clinton hand fostered a delicate relationship with Israels leaders.

This issue is really simple. The Obama Administration sympathizes with the Islam world and Iran. Israel is not dumbafied to this fact.

[Elphaba]

Thoughts?

It didn't happen?

According to Ben Smith, of Politico:

The White House is denying a story in the Israeli newspaper Maariv, gaining traction today on the right, that Israeli nuclear scientists have been denied visas to visit the United States.

. . . .

UPDATE: National Jewish Democratic Council CEO Ira Forman says in an email statement that he's checked with Israeli officials, who told him “Israel does not perceive any change in the U.S. policy regarding this matter."

UPDATE: The State Department is telling members of Congress, "The report is inaccurate; there has been no change in administration policy regarding visa issuance to scientists from Israel. We value greatly our academic and scientific exchanges with Israel and will continue to promote these important exchanges."

Elphaba

[Just_A_Guy]

So, we've got Israeli nuclear scientists saying "they won't let us in", and the Administration is saying "yes, we are", and the Israeli government is saying "we don't know nuthin' about nuthin'".

Will be interesting to watch this play out.l

[Moksha]

Some stories deserve a Snopes.com scrutiny. Thanks Elphaba.

[Just_A_Guy]

Yeah, 'cause everything the White House tells* us is the truth.

*since 2009

[talisyn]

nice use of *, JaG lol.

[Elphaba]

So, we've got Israeli nuclear scientists saying "they won't let us in", and the Administration is saying "yes, we are", and the Israeli government is saying "we don't know nuthin' about nuthin'".

Will be interesting to watch this play out.l

I just looked at the Pajamas blog, because the owner had sent an e-mail to Dr. Alfassi, who was quoted in the Marriv (sp?) article, to verify whether the Israelis received visas, or not. So far, it appears Pajamas hasn't received an answer yet. I hope it does, because Alfassi seems like a good source.

Also, Pajamas notes the following:

SECOND UPDATE 11 Apr 2010 10:45 PDT: Pajamas Media has received corrections on the translation; the original says some Israelis from Dimona have had their visas denied, rather than all.

Elphaba

[volgadon]

Not a word about it in Walla, which gathers reports from all the papers.

[Just_A_Guy]

Another update.

Apparently, this is one of those cases where it really is George Bush's fault.

[ZSEdwardson]

Well, Israel is not a party to the Nuclear NPT, and in case if you missed it, right now some of the political parties that are part of the Israeli government are so far right that they would make apartheid south Africa look liberal.

[volgadon]

Oh please, the parties that make up our government are not that far right. Ridiculous exaggeration.

For the record, I'm a moderate socialist, not a right-winger.

[ZSEdwardson]

Oh please, the parties that make up our government are not that far right. Ridiculous exaggeration.

For the record, I'm a moderate socialist, not a right-winger.

We might have to agree to disagree, but I am referring to the political parties like Yisrael Beiteinu and a lesser extent Shas, not Lukid, which is right wing but not at the level that I was describing.

[volgadon]

I know very well thatt you mean Israel Beiteinu and not Likud, but they are far from making the apartheid leaders look liberal.

[ZSEdwardson]

I know very well thatt you mean Israel Beiteinu and not Likud, but they are far from making the apartheid leaders look liberal.

Well, When a political party proposes to disenfranchise a subset of its citizens due to there nationality (under the party proposals, about 1/3 of Arabs who hold Isreali citizenship since the 1940's would be forceably disinfranchised.) They have made it clear that moderate israeli's of arab christian or arab muslim extraction are not welcome to serve in any type of leadership role (See what happened with Raleb Majadele). And I have yet to go over loyality oaths, which anyone with LDS background should remember that these where proposals to try to eliminate Mormonism. I

Of course, it is a free country, and your free to disagree.

[volgadon]

Ah yes, Majadele. Why don't we look into that a little deeper, shall we?

The uproar was over his appointment as minister of culture, science and sports.

Of course, they have no legitimate grounds for objecting, after all, it is not as if Majadele refused to sing the national anthem, waged war on Jewish cultural institutions, slighted events he was invited to, vocally supported giving back parts of Israel to Syria, oh, wait, he did...