Berkeley-based author and left-wing critic of Israel Ayelet Waldman has challenged the Jewish state to block her husband, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon, from entering when the couple visits in June.
https://twitter.com/ayeletw/status/859437113007144960
“I think it’s despicable to say that if you are in opposition, as many Israelis are, to illegal occupation,” Waldman told J. in a telephone interview. “Building settlements is illegal activity, so every settlement is essentially criminal. The idea that a country that calls itself a democracy bans from its shores people who oppose criminal activity, it’s despicable.”
Israel cannot bar Waldman from entering, because she holds Israeli citizenship. But Chabon does not.
In early March, Israel’s Knesset passed a law that bans entry to foreigners who publicly call for boycotting Israel or its settlements. Haaretz reported Tuesday that Israel is taking border control to “new extremes” with its tourist bans.
Both Waldman and Chabon are vocal critics of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. After a visit to the West Bank Chabon described the Israeli occupation “the worst thing I have ever seen, just purely in terms of injustice.”
Chabon and Waldman have co-edited a collection of essays entitled “Kingdom of Olives and Ash” that is set to be released May 30, marking 50 years since the Six-Day War and the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
Waldman said, “I just bought plane tickets and [the occupation] sickens me, because I love Israel. I’m Israeli, and I want Israel to be around forever.”
every country has the right to determine who and who does not enter it. but they wont block the chabons, although they should.
One can hope they will be interviewed, and expelled, by the same border policemen who sent the Gazan Arab back to America elsewhere in the J.
Here’s an example of how the new law is giving our enemies ammunition. It’s strong enough to handle little people like Waldman and Chabon. It’s the activists, the hardliners who go around rabble rousing who should be kept out, not self-lauding liberals.
@Shimon Waldman and Chabon have publicly announced their advocacy of BDS, a Palestinian war “by other means” against Israel. They are not just “self-lauding liberals”. They are explicitly advocating for the Palestinian cause in its endless war against Israel. No other country admits avowed subversives. Why should Israel?
ISN’T IT A PUBLICITY STUNT TO SELL A BOOK?
The problem with Waldman’s tirade is that she starts from a false premise, that the settlements are illegal, and then goes into a groundless, self-righteous wing-ding which has nothing to do with reality. The fact is that under the UN partition resolution of 1947 Jews have a right to live in every part of the former Palestine Mandate until such time as a Palestinian state with normalized relations with Israel exists. The Palestinians have been offered such a state endlessly, from 1947 right down to today, and have violently rejected it. The ever-so-modest Waldman seems not to know this.
But let us not kid ourselves. Waldman’s criticisms of Israel have nothing whatever to do with her erroneous understanding of the legality of the settlements. Everything about her manner and rhetoric is that not of a critic of israel, but of an enemy. Her “I dare you” is hard to understand as other than belligerent. Not critical, belligerent.
Her husband, Michael Chabon, says ““the worst thing I have ever seen, just purely in terms of injustice.” Does anyone really doubt that he believed that before he went to Judea? What he said is not an observation. It is a political posture – an alternate fact, as we say in America.
Together with the “I dare you” remark, it is hard not to understand this whole attempt to get arrested at the airport as a publicity stunt to sell Chabon’s upcoming book.
Boycotts work both ways. Waldman and Chabon are free to boycott Israel, including, if they are not hypocrites, the pharmaceuticals. And we are equally free to boycott ever buying another of Chabon’s or Waldman’s books. Ever.
Here is a partial list of the pharmaceuticals developed by Teva, Israel’s largest pharma company. Waldman and Chabon, either stop taking every one of these or admit your hypocrisy and shut up about a boycott. Check your medicine cabinet to find out if you are a boycott hypocrite or not:
Adderall (generic and branded)
Adrucil
Alprazolam
Amikacin Sulfate
Amitriptyline
Amoxicillin
Apri
Aripiprazole (generic)
Atomoxetine
Atorvastatin
Augmentin (generic)
Aviane
Azathioprine
Azithromycin
Baclofen
Balziva
Bisoprolol Fumarate
Bleomycin
Budeprion
Budesonide
Buspirone
Calcitriol
Camrese
Carboplatin
Cefdinir
Cephalexin
Ciclosporin
Ciprofloxacin
Citalopram
Cetirizine
Claravis
Clarithromycin
Clonazepam
Clozapine
Codeine
Copaxone
Cryselle
Cyclosporine
Daunorubicin
Dexmethylphenidate
Dextroamphetamine
Diazepam
Dihydrocodeine
Doxorubicin HCl
Enpresse
Epirubicin HCl
Epoprostenol Sodium
Errin
Escitalopram
Estazolam
Estradiol
Etodolac
Famciclovir
Filgrastim
Fiorinal[66]
Flunitrazepam
Fluocinonide
Fluconazole
Fluoxetine
Fluvoxamine
Gabapentin
Haloperidol
Haloperidol Decanoate
Ibuprofen Max
Idarubicin HCl
Ifosfamide
Irinotecan
Gianvi
Irbesartan
Junel
Kariva
Kelnor
Lamotrigine
Laquinimod
Letrozole
Leucovorin Calcium
Losartan
Methotrexate
Methylphenidate
Mirtazapine
Mitoxantrone
Montelukast (generic) [67]
Naltrexone
Naproxen[citation needed]
Norepinephrine
Norethisterone
Nortrel
Nortriptyline
Nuvigil
Nystatin
Ocella
Olanzapine
Omeprazole
Optalgin
Oxycodone
Oxymorphone
Pantoprazole[68]
Phentermine
Portia
Pravastatin
Prednisolone
ProAir
Provigil
Quetiapine
QVAR
QNASL
Ramipril
Rasagiline
Salbutamol (Albuterol)
Sertraline
Simvastatin
Sprintec
Sulfamethoxazole Trimethoprim
Sumatriptan
Tamoxifen
Temazepam
Temozolomide
Terbinafin
Topiramate
Trazodone
Tri-Sprintec
Ursodiol
Velivet
Venlafaxine
Warfarin
Zolpidem
Israel is a pseudo democracy that is without a constitution based on the universal rights of mankind. And we all know why they don’t have one. Its much easier to be a fascist state when there is no constitution.
How many parties does your country have in its parliament / congress, James? Israel has over a dozen. How many parties do fascist countries have. One. James, do you think you might come off looking less ignorant if you actually knew what you were talking about?
Tough issue, because as it is Israel is a country that has suffered terrorist attacks in the past so I see why they want to close the country to people who have expressed anti-Israel views. That said, however, it goes into freedom of speech issues too, and everyone should have the right to speak their mind, without a government telling them what they are or not allowed to say.
The Israeli government is not restricting what Waldman can say in her own country. But they have every right to restrain the political activity of disseminators of hostile foreign propaganda in their country. Contrary to the general Left article of faith that every country in the world has sovereign rights except Israel, the Israelis for some reason have gotten the odd idea that they have sovereign rights too. And that not even Waldman’s apparent belief that she is somehow above the law when the law is merely an Israeli law, actually puts her above the law.
What do you mean israel does not have sovereign rights? It does, doesn’t it?