Why Biden shouldn't rush to add Israel to the US visa waiver programme

Travellers exit Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport in July 2021. Reuters

It is puzzling that some Biden administration officials appear to be in a rush to admit Israel into the US Visa Waiver Programme, which allows for mutual, short-term entry between participating countries and the US.

It is puzzling because both the US Departments of State and Homeland Security know that Israel doesn’t meet one of the essential conditions for entry into the visa waiver programme. Any country seeking admission into the programme must guarantee full reciprocity, that is “equal treatment and freedom of travel for all US citizens regardless of national origin, religion, or ethnicity”. Israel has continually failed to meet that standard by often discriminating against Arab Americans at its border.

Civil rights groups have collected hundreds of stories from Arab Americans, especially Palestinian Americans, who have been harassed for hours by Israeli border control or outright denied entry and forced to return home to the US. The State Department has even issued a travel advisory noting that “US citizens of Arab or Muslim heritage [including Palestinian Americans] have experienced significant difficulties and unequal and occasionally hostile treatment at Israel’s borders and checkpoints”. In 2014, the last time there was a push to admit Israel into the waiver programme, the state department rejected its application precisely because of its discriminatory treatment of Arab Americans.

Not only has the situation remained unchanged, entry has become even more restrictive. So why is the Biden administration now attempting to rush through Israel’s admission into the programme?

The Times of Israel newspaper recently described the steps some US officials are taking to help Israel overcome the reciprocity issue. They will begin, most likely in July, a 30-day trial period in which Israel will implement a new process for entry screening. As described in the article, during this month, “Palestinian Americans will be able to apply for a 90-day travel authorisation … [during which] the US wants Israel to demonstrate that a critical mass of Palestinian Americans are able to apply online … [receive a visa] and successfully use it to enter” Ben Gurion Airport.

While the ability to apply online and enter through the Tel Aviv airport (instead of being forced to use the Allenby Bridge from Jordan) is an improvement for some Palestinians, the design of the trial is, at best, inadequate. At its worst, it is humiliating.

In the first place, as described by some US and Israeli officials, the trial only applies to the roughly 70,000 Palestinian Americans who currently possess Palestinian IDs. This excludes the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Americans who either do not have Palestinian documents or do not want them, only wishing to travel on their US passport. And of those with Palestinian IDs, the trial only appears to require Israel to admit an undefined “critical mass” of those who apply.

Additionally, the trial excludes other large groups who have reported serious discrimination at entry or exit. This includes other Arab Americans or American Muslims, especially those who have travelled to Arab or Muslim-majority countries. The trial also says or does nothing to address the problem of harassment experienced at checkpoints or on departure. And finally, the design of the trial doesn’t speak to the actual operation of the waiver programme, which is supposed to allow entry without application or pre-authorisation. For example, Israelis have been told that if their country is admitted into the programme, they will be able to enter the US without a visa. Reciprocity is supposed to mean that all Americans, including Arab Americans, should be able to enter Israel in the same way – without a visa.

Instead of demonstrating Israel’s ability to meet the terms of the waiver programme, this trial, as designed, simply provides Israel with a workaround to allow access to a limited number of Palestinians. This is not the meaning of reciprocity. Dumbing down the terms to which Israel must comply to gain entry into the programme, because they cannot otherwise meet them, both violates the statutory requirement of full reciprocity and will be seen as undermining the citizenship rights of those Arab Americans who may still be subjected to discriminatory treatment at entry and exit.

While Israel argues that its border policies are dictated by security concerns, there are too many recorded instances of discriminatory treatment or denial of entry that raise doubts regarding this claim. Its periodic refusal to accept the US passports of Palestinian Americans (even those born in the US) and its treatment of Arab Americans who have travelled to Lebanon or Egypt speak more to harassment than security. In any case, if Israel insists on continuing its behaviour, the US simply should not and cannot honour Israel with the privilege of the waiver programme.

The affirmation of US citizenship rights is what Americans should expect from their government. Allowing Israel to designate certain Americans as second-class citizens is insupportable. The Biden administration should not go down this route simply to do what appears to be an election-year favour for Israel.

Arab Americans aren’t alone in their insistence that their rights be protected. Some former US secretaries of state with whom I have spoken have made it clear that Israel’s conduct is unacceptable. Letters by a number of US senators and members of Congress, and six prominent liberal American-Jewish organisations, have supported Arab Americans by calling on the administration to put the brakes on Israel’s admission into the waiver programme until Israel can demonstrate the capacity and willingness to honour the reciprocity requirement.