NGO Petitions Court to Bar Rep. Omar from Entering Israel

The legal NGO Shurat HaDin has filed a petition to deny U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar entry into the country due to her support for boycotts of Israel, The Times of Israel reported on Wednesday.

Shurat HaDin said it asked the Yerushalayim District Court on Tuesday to direct Interior Minister Rabbi Aryeh Deri to use his authority to refuse to allow Omar entry.

The move comes after Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer told the Times that Omar, representative for Minnesota, and Palestinian-American Rep. Rashida Tlaib from Michigan, would be allowed to visit Israel in August. Dermer said permission would be given “out of respect for the U.S. Congress and the great alliance between Israel and America.”

Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, Shurat HaDin’s founder, rejected Dermer’s reason, saying that “Israel shouldn’t let others, including young students, fight this battle for it, and in contrast surrender to the phenomenon here in Israel due to the prestige and status of certain important BDS activists.”