For Second Time, Israel Blocks Human Rights Watch Worker from Entering Country

The Times of Israel reports: Despite pledges to allow an American employee of Human Rights Watch into the country, Israel on Thursday again blocked his entry, this time on a tourist visa.

Omar Shakir, HRW’s Israel and Palestine Director, was first denied a work visa last week over his alleged anti-Israel bias. The Israeli Embassy in Washington then suggested Shakir would be allowed to enter on a a tourist visa.

But on Thursday that was also denied by the Border Control Department, a branch of the Interior Ministry’s Population and Immigration Authority.

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