In Display of 'Outrageous, McCarthyite Repression,' U.S. Bars BDS Leader Omar Bargouti Entering Country

Civil liberties advocates and press freedom groups were appalled Thursday when the Donald Trump administration announced that Omar Barghouti—a Palestinian activist at the forefront of efforts to use nonviolent tactics to end the Israeli occupation—was barred from entering the United States. 

According to the Arab American Institute, Barghouti was denied access to a plane to the U.S. at Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv. Officials at the airport allegedly told Barghouti that American immigration officials made the request. 

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Barghouti, in a statement released by the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement, or BDS, placed the blame for the decision on Israel’s tactics to silence state critics. 

“Israel is not merely continuing its decades-old system of military occupation, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing,” said Barghouti. “It is increasingly outsourcing its outrageous, McCarthyite repression to the U.S. and to xenophobic, far right cohorts across the world.”

Barghouti’s involvement in starting BDS has earned him the wrath of both Israel and the U.S.

The Institute for Middle East Understanding posted an explainer video on Twitter after learning of Barghouti’s plight.

The State Department declined to comment, NPR reported, citing confidentiality concerns. Israel denied any involvement in the decision.