Visas for Terrorists, No Visas for Jews

There is a growing double standard on denying visas for Israelis — while defending visas for Hamas supporters.

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This is a guest essay written by Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center.

You can also listen to the podcast version of this essay on Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, YouTube, and Spotify.

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There was outrage after the move to deport foreign campus terrorist supporters, including Momodou Taal, who had urged student protesters to take their cue from Hamas and tweeted “absolutely anyone the US calls an enemy is my friend.”

A basic condition of visa travel and resident alien status is that the temporary visitors to this country may not commit crimes or advocate for illegal terrorist groups.

But the efforts to remove Taal, Mahmoud Khalil — a top activist in a Columbia University group that had celebrated the October 7th attacks and called for the destruction of America — and Rasha Alawieh, a Lebanese Hezbollah supporter who attended Hassan Nasrallah’s funeral, were condemned by U.S. Congress Democrats, the media, and even some liberal Jewish groups like the Jewish Democratic Council of America and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, as a violation of the First Amendment¹ rights of terrorist supporters who were being “punished for their speech.”

And those defending the rights of foreign nationals to assault police officers as “free speech” were not all that long ago cheering visa bans for Israeli Jews.

After October 7th, two Israeli musicians recorded “Harbu Darbu,” a hip-hop song that went viral for celebrating Israeli soldiers and calling for the destruction of Islamic terrorists. Next year, when Ness and Stilla, the musicians behind the song, tried to visit the United States to take part in a Miami concert sponsored by the Israeli consulate, their request for a visa was denied by then-U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration because of the passionate lyrics of the anti-terrorist song.

Lior Narkis, a popular Israeli musician, who had formerly represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest, was blocked from performing — even though he had already legally entered the U.S. — by preventing him from receiving a performer visa. There was no reason for such a move by the Biden Administration except to specifically stop the planned concert from taking place.

None of the media outlets or organizations clamoring for the right of Islamic terrorist supporters to come to the U.S. on visas and terrorize Jewish students on campus objected to blocking “pro-Israel” musicians from coming to perform here.

And when the Biden Administration announced that it would be restricting Israeli Jews opposed to Hamas from coming to America, the move was met with cheers from many of those now decrying the suspension of visas for terrorist supporters.

In December 2023, then-U.S. Secretary of State Blinken announced “visa restrictions” were being imposed on those he falsely described as “extremist settlers” who were “involved in undermining peace, security, or stability in the West Bank, including through committing acts of violence or taking other actions that unduly restrict civilians’ access to essential services.”

The Biden Administration’s “Jew Ban” was not only extended to Israeli shepherds who were defending themselves against Islamic violence, but to non-violent protesters opposed to Blinken’s policies.

The unprecedented sanctions hit goat farms, a baker who had shot a terrorist while serving in the army in 2016, and an Israeli mother of eight who had worked with sexual assault survivors and was protesting the aid trucks that Biden was sending to Hamas.

Here’s how Reut Ben Haim, a protest leader who had a 6-month-old baby and a husband serving in Gaza, put it:

“From the moment I founded Tzav² 9, it was solely to bring our hostages home. We wanted to stop aid to Hamas and prevent harm to our soldiers. Our actions included all parts of the nation — hostage families, bereaved families, Right-wing and Left-wing alike — all participating in the most legitimate actions with zero violence. Now, we face sanctions, personally targeting me.”

One-hundred percent of the individuals and 85 percent of the organizations sanctioned under Biden’s Executive Order 14115 were Jewish. And there was not a single word of protest against this “Jew Ban” from those who had previously protested against then-U.S. President Donald Trump’s so-called “Muslim Ban” in 2017.

The same people who claim they want to protect Momodou Taal and Mahmoud Khalil’s “freedom of speech” were enthusiastic about imposing sanctions that banned Reut Ben Haim from getting a visa or even having a bank account — by falsely listing her as a “transnational criminal organization” for engaging in peaceful protests.

In sharp contrast to the Columbia University rioters and other pro-Hamas campus groups, Reut Ben Haim and Tzav 9 were not engaged in violence. Yet the media and leftist organizations, including the anti-Israel lobby J Street, hailed the crackdown on supporters of Israel. Shomrim: The Center for Media and Democracy — an extremist group — even spied on Reut to determine if she was still getting money despite the sanctions.

When Trump eliminated those sanctions upon retaking office this past January, the media (including Politico, NBC News, Reuters, and the Associated Press, which has a history of Hamas ties) falsely accused Trump of causing violence by dropping sanctions on a housewife with a baby.

Because it was never about “free speech.” It was about supporting terrorism.

Even ordinary Israelis reported being targeted with questions about whether they had served in the military, had seen combat, had shot any terrorists, or guarded captured terrorists.

An Israeli woman trying to visit as a tourist described being interrogated for half an hour for details about her service before being told she was ineligible for a visa. A real estate vice president was debriefed for hours about his time in Gaza, causing him to miss his flight. A tech company executive said, “I feel as if questions were copied from the Office of the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.”³

Even while this was going on, the Biden Administration had provided a “green card”⁴ to Mahmoud Khalil and welcomed countless Muslim terrorism supporters into the United States.

Those who defend campus Hamas supporters do not object to blocking people from receiving visas and coming to this country over their views or their connections to foreign organizations, as long as those views are pro-Israel and that foreign organization is an army fighting against Islamic terrorists. They only object to blocking and rescinding visas to supporters of Hamas and other Islamic terrorist groups for their violent assaults, threats, and campaign to destroy America and Israel.

Those who support Taal, Khalil, and other campus terror supporters are not doing so because of some abstract commitment to free speech. They had plenty of chances to stand up for free speech. The only speech they support is the speech that they already agree with.

And that speech is aimed at destroying America and Israel.

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1. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees fundamental freedoms, including freedom of religion, speech, the press, assembly, and the right to petition the government.

2. Army in Hebrew

3. “US asks Israelis applying for green card whether they committed war crimes.” Ynet News.

4. A permanent resident card, granting an individual the right to live and work in the country indefinitely