At least six out of the seven countries targeted by Donald Trump’s latest executive order have visa policies that discriminate against Israel.
Trump signed an executive order Friday temporarily prohibiting citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries — specifically Syria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen — from entering the U.S.
Of that group, Iran, Syria, Libya, Yemen, and Sudan all refuse entry to foreign travelers holding passports or travel documents indicating that they have been to or are affiliated in some way with Israel.
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Israeli nationals are not permitted to transit through Iraq, Iran, Libya, Yemen, Syria, or Sudan, even in situations where the traveler does not intend to leave the aircraft.
In Syria, individuals suspected of having affiliations with Israel have been detained for questioning.
These discriminatory visa policies are religiously motivated. Some have arrived at similar conclusions about Trump’s latest executive order, declaring the move a “Muslim ban,” but the order restricts entry only for travelers from a few predominantly Muslim countries, not all of them.
For instance, the new policies do not apply to citizens of Indonesia, which has the world’s largest Muslim population.
The primary focus of Trump’s policies is combating Islamic terrorism.
“We want to ensure that we are not admitting into our countries the very threats that our soldiers are fighting overseas,” the president said Friday. He stressed that his latest order is designed to “keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America” and “to protect the American people.”
The order aims to eliminate threats to the American populace. Temporarily restricting travel from certain terror-prone countries gives the administration time to establish an improved screening process, what Trump refers to as “extreme vetting.”
The order states that “the United States must be vigilant during the visa-issuance process to ensure that those approved for admission do not intend to harm Americans and that they have no ties to terrorism.”
This report, by Ryan Pickrell, was cross-posted by arrangement with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
