‘Muslim Ban’ Doesn’t Apply to Israeli Citizens Born in Affected Countries
Entry Denied: An officer patrols Israel’s Ben Gurion airport, where some Muslim and Arab Americans appear to have been turned back on ethnic grounds. Image by Getty Images
JERUSALEM (JTA) — U.S. visas held by Israeli citizens born in the seven Muslim-majority countries covered under President Donald Trump’s travel ban remain valid, the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv has confirmed.
A statement about the visas was posted Tuesday on the embassy’s website.
“If you have a currently valid U.S. visa in your Israeli passport and were born in Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, or Yemen, and do not have a valid passport from one of these countries, your visa was not cancelled and remains valid,” the statement said. “Similarly, we continue to process visa applications for applicants born in those countries, so long as they do not have a valid passport from one of those countries and have not otherwise declared themselves to be a national of one of those countries.”
It added, however: “Authorization to enter the United States is always determined at the port of entry. We have no further information at this time.”
Asked about the issue Monday by the French news agency AFP, the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem referred the question to the State Department, which could not answer the question several hours after it was posed.
Some 140,000 Israelis were born in the seven countries covered in the 90-day travel ban imposed by the executive order signed Friday by Trump. About 45,000 were born in Iran and 53,000 in Iraq, according to AFP, citing official statistics. Most are older than 65 and did not retain citizenship in their birth countries.
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