The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) condemned, in the strongest terms on Wednesday, Israel's admission into the US Visa Waiver Program (VWP). This decision, taken by the Departments of Homeland Security and State, not only undermines the rights of Americans of Palestinian and Arab descent, but also makes practices... Israeli discrimination is part of the American program.

According to the first Arab American human rights organization, “Israel has not shown equal treatment towards American citizens, and the two-month assessment conducted by the United States government is completely inadequate.”

The US administration's decision came in the wake of a lawsuit filed by ADC on Tuesday evening, which states that "DHS is not following the law by redefining the meaning of reciprocity, a basic principle of the Visa Waiver Program that requires participating countries to treat all American citizens equally." ".

Arab Americans Against Discrimination (ADC) said, “What is disturbing is that the United States government moved forward with this announcement despite its knowledge of the lawsuit, and no ruling has been issued yet in this case, and ADC will remain committed to pursuing all legal options to protect the civil rights of Arab Americans.” And the Palestinians.”

As the organization said in its statement, “It is disturbing that the separate and unequal apartheid system imposed by Israel on Palestinians, a system applied to Americans as well, is now supported by the United States government.”

The ADC's position has been consistent and firm: Israel should not be granted entry into the Visa Waiver Program as long as it continues to discriminate against Arab Americans, especially Palestinian Americans. We have engaged in good faith with both the Department of Homeland Security and State, highlighting our concerns about Israeli policies and practices. It is extremely disappointing that our sincere efforts and concerns have been ignored. The basic principle of “blue is blue,” in reference to the color of American passports, has been ignored.

“By endorsing an equal system for American citizens, our government has given tacit approval to Israel’s biased policies and apartheid measures,” said Abdul Ayoub, ADC’s national executive director. “This decision sends a stark message that not all American passport holders are viewed equally.” ".

In turn, Chris Habibie, Director of National Government Affairs and Advocacy at ADC, said that Israel’s record of discrimination against Arab Americans, especially Palestinian Americans, is neither short-lived nor accurate, “and the Biden administration’s welcoming of Israel into this program is not only a blatant endorsement of this discrimination, but it is also an insult.” To the expected basic standard of universal equal treatment of Americans regardless of their race.”

The United States of America announced on Wednesday that it would exempt Israeli citizens from entry visas to its territory, and thus Tel Aviv would join the American visa exemption program.

This came in a joint announcement by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, who confirmed that Israel has met all the required conditions and joined the list of countries exempt from entry visas.

It is expected that the exemption for Israelis from entry visas will come into effect next November. The procedure stipulates the necessity of registering on the ESTA website 72 hours before traveling to the United States and allows a stay of 90 days for tourist and commercial purposes.