Op-Ed – Israel Must Ban Entry & Citizenship to Those Who Collaborate with Terrorism

Edited by: TJVNews.com

Israeli authorities said Tuesday they had deported an Italian woman detained in a military raid in the Bethlehem area, according to a report on the Times of Israel web site.

Stefania Costantini was arrested Monday when IDF troops when into the Dheisheh refugee camp, the Shin Bet said, according to the report.

The Shin Bet said Costantini arrived on a tourist visa in May and was suspected of being involved in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror group, TOI reported. “Costantini was summoned in September 2022 for interrogation by the Shin Bet, but she did not report (to the authorities) and even continued her activities for the terrorist organization,” the agency said in a statement.

The PFLP has also been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union. The TOI reported that subsequent to Costantini’s arrest on Monday, she was handed over to Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority, whose spokeswoman told AFP she was deported the same day.

In other news related to the wave of terrorism that has plagued Israel, a second member of the Neturei Karta sect who met with a leader of the terrorist Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader in Jenin earlier this month has been arrested, it was revealed on Tuesday, according to a report that appeared on the JNS.org web site.

The man was detained at Ben-Gurion Airport upon returning to Israel from abroad.

The unidentified man along with two others met last week with PIJ leader Bassam al-Saadi and declared their support for the Palestinian cause, JNS reported. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement utilizes all forms of deadly terrorist methods which specifically target Israeli civilians and military personnel in order to destroy the existence of the Jewish state.

Neturei Karta is a small group of ultra-Orthodox Jews that opposes the concept of Zionism in the belief that Jews are forbidden to have their own state until the coming of the Messiah and that the State of Israel is a rebellion against God, he report indicated.

Police last week arrested Elhanan Lax, 38, from the central Israeli city of Petach Tikva, on suspicion of “supporting and associating with a terror group” and unlawfully entering Area A of Judea and Samaria, which is under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, JNS reported. Lax is a prominent member of Neturei Karta and was among the three who visited the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists in Jenin. He was released on Sunday under restrictive conditions.

The question that arises is whether Israel has the right and moral obligation to designate Neturei Karta as terrorist organization as it clearly aids and abets those whose manifesto clearly calls for the use of deadly force to murder Israelis and Jews.

In March 2017, the Israeli Knesset voted to enact the Entry Into Israel Law (No. 5712-1952) by a vote of 46-28.   The law prohibits the entry into Israel of any foreigner who makes a “public call for boycotting Israel” or “any area under its control”  It denies entry, visa and residency permits to these affected foreigners.

The law was a response to the BDS movement which calls for comprehensive boycotts of Israel  and its complete isolation from the international community of nations. It calls for academic, economic and cultural boycotts and works in tandem with non-governmental organizations to place pressure on those who would recognize Israel through their presence there or through their contributions.   Supporters of the law defended it as within Israel’s rights to control its borders and as a legitimate counter-measure against its opponents, according to a Wikipedia report.

The legislation that was passed in the Knesset bars the issuance of visas and residency permits to public supporters of boycotts against Israel. Wikipedia reported that according to the legislation, the ban applies to any non-citizen and non-permanent resident “who knowingly issues a public call for boycotting Israel that, given the content of the call and the circumstances in which it was issued, which has a reasonable possibility of leading to the imposition of a boycott – if the issuer was aware of this possibility.” This means that it does not apply to every individual who supports a boycott; rather, it applies only to those who issued a public call with a “reasonable possibility” of leading to an actual boycott.

The former Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan defended the ban, saying that, like every country, Israel “has the right to determine who enters its borders” and that the ban was an effort against “those who seek to delegitimize Israel while hiding behind the language of human rights,” Wikipedia report.  Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett supported the law because it allowed Israel to “protect itself against conspirators,” Wikipedia reported.

Thus far, a number of people have been banned from Israel who affiliated themselves with the cause of collaborating with terrorist organizations who are dedicated to the annihilation of Israel.

Former DePaul University political science professor and Brooklyn native Norman Finkelstein was deported from Israel and handed a 10-year ban in 2008. American linguist and U.S. foreign policy critic Noam Chomsky was denied entry into Israel in 2010. Wikipedia reported that in December 2016, Israel refused entry to a Malawian tourist after officials discovered she was active in the World Council of Churches, an organization which calls for the boycott of products made in Judea and Samaria.

Finkelstein, Chomsky and others of that ilk are rabid Israel haters who have made a career of attempting to viciously denigrate and delegitimize the one and only Jewish state. They ally themselves with the BDS movement and call for Israel to relinquish the Judea and Samaria region to Palestinian terrorist organizations including Hamas. For its part, Hamas believes that it is not sufficient for Israel to make territorial compromises as their ultimate objective is to push Israel into the sea and asset their autonomy of all of Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu has made it a priority of his administration to fight the BDS Movement and now is the best time to begin as he leads a new and impactful government.

The time is long overdue for Israel to a wage a war on the ubiquitous plague of Palestinian terrorism in all of its manifestations. Whether it be imposing harsher penalties on Palestinians who commit violent and deadly assaults on Israelis or denying entry and citizenship to those who supply any form of aid to those who would seek the destruction of Israel. And this includes Neturei Karta. While the group is comprised for Chassidic Jews and  described as “small” their actions and deeds speak volumes on just how dangerous they have become since their inception many years ago.

All those who care about Israel’s future, be they religious or not must sound a clarion call to those leading Israel’s new government and compel then to assume a stronger posture against those who collaborate with the panoply of mortal enemies of the Jewish state.