US Embassy in Tel Aviv Severely Restricts Visas for Israelis

Arutz Sheva ^ | 7-30-14 | Tova Dvorin

[DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis]

The US embassy in Tel Aviv has cancelled tourist visa applications for Israelis, according to a statement on its official website, in a move it claims is a matter of staffing and security.

"Due to the current security situation in Tel Aviv, U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv remains open but is operating at reduced staffing until further notice, and has canceled routine visa application processing and American Citizen services," the statement says. "Emergencies involving an American citizen and visa applications will be considered on a case by case basis."

The statement surfaces in the midst of both souring US-Israel relations and an already-pressured visa crisis, which has seen the visa process for Israelis grow more and more difficult over the past year.

In April, US Secretary of State John Kerry announced an internal review into claims that hundreds of young Israelis were being barred from entering the US for political reasons.

An initial investigation found that the rejection rate of visa applications for young Israelis ages 21-26 had doubled, from 16% in 2009 to 32% in 2014; Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro stated that the visa crisis is close to coming to an end several days later.

"The department will take immediate steps to increase the number of young Israelis that can travel to the US according to our immigration laws," Shapiro wrote, in a Facebook post...

[snip]

Earlier this year, Israeli security officials also claimed they were being targeted by the US, and that hundreds of defense officials were turned away from making important visits to Washington.

[Buckeye McFrog]

I recall reading about a ship full of Jewish refugees (SS St. Louis) that was sent back to Europe with its passengers in 1939.

Their story was made into a movie.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyage_of_the_Damned

[DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis]

Indeed. Depressing isn’t it?

[5th MEB]

Yes; there were several thousand Jews on board that ship, trying to escape the Nazi/US State Department/raghead persecution and death camps. The Great FDR did not want them in the United States so he sent them back to certain slavery and death in Nazi Germany.
And people wonder why I viscerally hate DEMONCRATS AND LIB/PROGRESSIVES.
I would love to send OBASTARD and all of his supporters and minions to a nice summer camp like TREBLINKA, AUSHWITZ or SOBIBOR.
All but a very few of those passengers aboard that ship died in the death camps, all because of DEMONCRATS, the US State Department, and their supporters. Things have not changed at all with DEMONCRATS or at the US SNAKE DEPARTMENT.

[reg45]

It was not so much FDR as the Dixiecrats in congress and the State Department who blocked the Jews from entering the country. FDR needed those Dixiecrats to maintain his coalition and his hold on power. He had an election coming up in two years; he would have completed two full terms by then and there was a lot of sentiment for the two term tradition that had been in place since George Washington. FDR could not afford to make any waves with that powerful bloc if he wanted a third term.

[SunkenCiv]

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