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Extreem rechts Knesset lid krijgt geen visa, hij mag de VS niet binnen. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was echter wel welkom...

Ynet - Rightist Knesset member denied US visa

Michael Ben Ari shunned over association with Kach, designated by US as terror group

Tzvika Brot
Published: 02.25.12, 17:24 / Israel News

The US government has refused to grant MK Michael Ben Ari (National Union) a visa to enter because of his association with Kach, a far right organization designated by the US as a terrorist organization.



The issue prompted Knesset Speaker, Reuven Rivlin to send an angry letter to US Ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, demanding the issue be reconsidered, Yedioth Ahronth reported Friday.


Ben Ari is a member of the National Union party, which is a legitimate faction of the Israeli parliament, Rivlin wrote. The rightist MK is an elected representative of the people of Israel, a close friend of the US, and regarding him as a member of a terrorist group and banning him from the US is outrageous, the Knesset speaker added.


Addressing the issue, Ben Ari noted "the US government openly welcomed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who called for the destruction of Israel."


"The American government chose to forbid me from meeting with memebers of the Jewish community in the US, on the grounds of me being a terrorist," he said.

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Times of Israel - MK denied US visa, apparently for ties to Kach ‘terror group’

A

far-right member of Knesset has been denied a visa to enter the US, apparently because of his ties to the outlawed Kach movement and the late radical Rabbi Meir Kahane.

The MK, Michael Ben-Ari of the National Union party, was refused a visa for a planned visit to participate in events in the US this week including a conference on aliya.

Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin had asked the US Ambassador, Dan Shapiro, for his assistance in the matter, noting that Ben-Ari is a serving member of parliament and that the US has no reason to see him as a threat.

According to Haaretz, the MK was told his visa request was rejected on the basis of “a clause that allows the U.S. State Department to prohibit the entrance of people who were involved in terror activities or were members of a terror organization in a foreign country.”

Kach is outlawed in Israel and various other countries, including the US.

Ben-Ari slammed the decision, telling Maariv it was absurd that the US welcomes Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who calls for the annihilation of Israel, “with open arms,” while “refusing to let me enter and calling me a terrorist.”

He had previously been denied a visa in 2009, when the reason cited was his arrest for involvement in demonstrations against the 2005 Gaza disengagement.