Last week the right erupted over a story published at Pajamas Media by their CEO Roger Simon:
The Obama administration is now denying U.S. visas to some Israeli scientists who work at that nation’s Dimona nuclear reactor. This startling reversal of traditional policy was reported April 7, 2010, in the Israeli website/newspaper NRG/Maariv (link to the original Hebrew here and to an exclusive Pajamas Media translation here). [Translation corrected, see second update below. — Ed.]
This could be yet another flashpoint in the increasingly sensitive relations between the administration, the American Jewish community, and Israel. The revelation in Maariv came only a day before the arrival in New York of Tariq Ramadan — controversial grandson of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al Banna — whose visa was reportedly championed by Secretary of State Clinton. Yesterday as well, new rules disavowing the term “Islamic radicalism” were announced by Secretary of Defense Gates.
It resulted in other right wing blogs taking up the mantel of outrage:
“No Jews Allowed!”
NRG/Maariv (Hebrew link only, sorry) reported today that the Israeli government was stunned when every nuclear technician at Israel’s Dimona reactor who had submitted visa requests to visit the United States for ongoing university education in Physics, Chemistry and Nuclear Engineering had their visa applications summarily rejected, specifically because of their association with the Dimona reactor.
This is a new policy decision of the Obama administration. Up until now, it was routine for Israeli nuclear scientists and technicians to receive such visas and to study at US universities.[SNIP]
Here’s the odd bit. Obama and his minions might believe that these sneaky, underhanded Jews are all spies, but in real life, nuclear espionage here in America has only occurred from China or from Obama’s friends in the Muslim world…especially Iran and Pakistan.
Why does Obama hate the Israelis so much? Well maybe not all Jews, as Roger Simon shows on an update to his post:
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.
So why does Obama hate some Israelis so much? Well OK, maybe it isn’t even Obama, as a new post from Roger Simon points out:
On April 8, 2010, I wrote an article in this space implying that the Obama administration had instituted a new policy restricting entry to the United States for Israeli nuclear scientists who worked at the Dimona reactor. I based my article on a report from the Israeli website/newspaper Maariv, which quoted the nuclear engineering professor Zeev Alfassi as its primary source.
This morning (Pacific time) I was able to reach Dr. Alfassi in his office at Ben Gurion University in the Negev. Apparently, my report — and the newspaper’s — was inaccurate. The professor informed me that while it was extremely difficult for scientists who worked at Dimona to obtain U.S. visas, this was not a new policy of the Obama administration. This problem has been going on since 9/11.
Alfassi explained that formerly he and other scientists were able to go through travel agents to obtain visas to the U.S. Now they have to go personally to the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv. He knows of at least one case of a scientist who was not able to attend a conference in this country because of this system. European scientists, he said, did not have this problem.
It’s been going on since 9/11? Doesn’t that make it a Bush policy then? Oh forget the outrage now. If Bush did it, then it must have been for good reason, not like if Obama did it.
Again the pure hatred the right has for President Obama is obvious. They can try to deny that hatred exists, but actions do speak louder than words.