Washington Watch Articles From 2023
An Open Letter to President Joe Biden
Dear President Biden, I received a call on Tuesday night from a senior official in your administration giving me a heads-up that the next morning the US was going to formally announce that Israel was to be admitted into the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). He knew I had been concerned with Israel’s application for membership because of its history of discriminatory treatment of Arab Americans, and so he said, “I know you are disappointed.” I replied, “I’m not disappointed. I’m insulted and angry.”
For Arab Americans, Blue is Not Blue
News last week that the US and Israel were about to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) advancing Israel’s entry into the US Visa Waiver Program (VWP) shouldn’t have caught us by surprise. But it did. For months, we had been assured by various Biden Administration officials that Israel could not meet the requirements of the program. Concerns focused on the VWP’s statutory requirement that participant governments must guarantee full reciprocity to US citizens seeking entry - without regard to race, religion, or national origin.
Baffling and Insulting
That some Biden administration officials appear to be in a rush to admit Israel into the U.S. Visa Waiver Program (VWP), which allows for mutual, short-term entry between participating countries and the U.S., is both baffling and insulting.