They refused to give an explanation.
Professor Noam Chomsky, an American linguist and left-wing activist, was denied entry into Israel on Sunday, for reasons that were not immediately clear.
Chomsky, who was scheduled to deliver a lecture at Bir Zeit University near Jerusalem, told the Right to Enter activist group by telephone that inspectors had stamped the words "denied entry" onto his passport when he tried to cross from Jordan over Allenby Bridge.
When he asked an Israeli inspector why he had not received permission, he was told that an explanation would be sent in writing to the American embassy.
Chomsky arrived at the Allenby Bridge at around 1:30 in the afternoon and was taken for questioning, before being released back to Amman at 4:30 P.M.
Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sabine Haddad said Chomsky was turned away for various reasons but declined to elaborate. The ministry was looking into allowing him to enter only the West Bank, said Haddad.
In a telephone interview with Channel 10, Chomsky said the interrogators had told him he had written things that the Israeli government did not like.
"I suggested [the interrogator try to] find any government in the world that likes anything I say," he said… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Common Dreams>
Chomsky is a bit out on the fringe, but his work is usually well researched and well documented. In Israel’s war of attrition against Palestinians, in defiance of their own treaty obligations, I have no doubt that Chomsky’s lecture would have been far to accurate for consumption by Israel’s college students. I don’t always agree with his positions, but were I to suppress them, I would be a hypocrite, as is the Israeli government.
8 Responses to “Israel Denies Entry to Noam Chomsky”
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As a former academic I found that Chomsky was de rigeur for teaching kids how to read.
…But that was in English.
It must be a whole different ball game for Hebrew.
Ivan, I don’t think Israel cares about reading. Their objection is to thinking.
Chomsky is clearly a “thought criminal” to the Israeli radical right. He’ll be lucky to be allowed back into the States without being tossed into Gitmo as an enemy combatant. We are about one republican president away from this scenario.
Dave, you have just explained why the GOP can never be allowed back in power.
We don’t like what you write, so we’re not letting you in the country. Geez, Israel is becoming as bad as the US under Repub rule.
Had their incompetence in their greed not trashed the economy, screwed up two wars, drowned a city, etc., and had the GOP been able to steal the 2008 election, human rights in the US would be just a memory.
Noam Chomsky would be the first person to agree that any country has the right to allow — or not allow — someone to enter its borders. If a person is going to advocate anarchy, he has to allow people in other countries to disagree with him. Folks can’t have it both ways. Freedom of speech can sometimes be a double-edged sword.
Josie, I do not question Israel’s right to deny entry to whomever they so choose. I merely point out their hypocrisy in choosing to do so.