Noam Chomsky denied entry to Israel

AFTER MANY MANY YEARS -- FINALLY -- Chomsky is ACTUALLY MENTIONED in the Washington Post.

(Chomsky is the most cited author alive, but the controlled mainstream press has not even mentioned him

http://www.google.com/search?q=chomsky << SEE ALL NEWSPAPERS

Noam Chomsky denied entry to Israel

The Associated Press

Sunday, May 16, 2010; 1:02 PM

JERUSALEM -- An Israeli official says academic and polemicist Noam Chomsky, who is a fierce critic of Israel, has been denied entry to the country.

Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sabine Haddad said Chomsky was turned away for "various reasons" but declined to elaborate. Chomsky was trying to cross the Allenby Bridge from Jordan. He was scheduled to deliver a lecture at Bir Zeit University in the West Bank.

Haddad said her ministry was looking into allowing him to enter only the West Bank.

Chomsky told Channel 10 TV from Jordan Sunday: "I've often spoken at Israeli universities."

Chomsky is one of Israel's harshest academic critics. After Israel's 2009 war in Gaza, he was quoted as saying, "supporters of Israel are in reality supporters of its moral degeneration."

=== Al Jazeera ==

Israel stops US academic at border

Noam Chomsky, a renowned Jewish-American scholar and political activist, has been barred from entering the West Bank.

Chomsky was denied entry by Israeli immigration officials as he attempted to cross the Allenby Bridge from Jordan on Sunday.

The lingusitics professor, who frequently speaks out against Israeli policy in the occupied Palestinian territories, had been scheduled to give a lecture at Birzeit University in the West Bank.

"I entered with my daughter and two friends who we met in Amman the day before," he told Al Jazeera.

"After several hours of waiting and multiple interrogations our two friends were permitted entry and my daughter and I were informed that we were denied entry after much discussion indirectly with the interior ministry."

Chomsky said the border officials were "very polite" as they "transmitted inquiries from the [Israeli] ministry of the interior".

He said that he believed he was denied entry was for two reasons.

"The government does not like the kind of things I say which puts them into the category of every other government in the world," he said.

"The second was that they seemed upset about the fact that I was taking an invitation from Birzeit and I had no plans of speaking to any Israeli universities as I've done many times in the past, but not this time."

'Misunderstanding'

However, a spokeswoman at the Israeli interior ministry, which controls the country's borders, said Chomsky had not been allowed to cross the border due to misunderstanding.

She said officials were trying to get clearance from the Israeli military, which controls access to the West Bank to allow Chomsky to enter.

"We are trying to contact the military to clear things up and if they have no objection we see no reason why he should not be allowed in," Sabine Hadad told the Reuters news agency.

Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian MP who had invited Chomsky to speak at the university's philosophy department, said the scholar had been detained at the border for five hours.

"This act shows the nature of the Israeli government that is against freedom of speech, particularly from such a noted international figure like Chomsky," Barghouti said.

Chomsky, 81, is a professor of linguistics at the US Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has frequently spoken out against Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories.

=== Jerusalem Post ===

Chomsky: denied entry for my views

By JPOST.COM STAFF 16/05/2010 20:08

Radical intellectual was set to speak at Bir Zeit University

Noam Chomsky was denied entry into Israel via the Allenby Bridge border crossing on Sunday, he told Channel 10's Yaron London.

The world-renowned linguist, and sharp critic of the US and Israel was on his way to speak at Ramallah.s Bir Zeit University in the Palestinian territories, at the invitation of Palestinian Authority parliament member and liberal activist, Dr. Moustafa Barghouti,the sources reported.

He was allegedly held up on the Jordanian side of the crossing for over four hours and was finally sent back to Amman, with no official cause given for turning him back.

Speaking from Amman, Chomsky said he had tried to cross the bridge with his daughter. He said he was politely questioned, "actually they were more statements than questions," Chomsky said. "I was told the government doesn't like the kinds of things I say, and secondly, the don't like the fact I will only be speaking at Bir Zeit and not speak at any Israeli University," Chomsky told Channel 10.

Asked what he answered, Chomsky replied: "I told them there is no government that likes anything I have to say, and that I have spoken at Israeli Universities many times and tried to go over to speak at Bir Zeit at those times,"

Reports vary as to what Chomsky was told was the reason for the decision to turn him away at the border, he was apparently given no official explanation.

Chomsky has said that Israel and the US are the true obstacles to peace, saying that the Arab peace proposal was the Palestine Liberation Organization.s official position. He says Hamas hinted they would consider it and even Iran.s leader, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had accepted and it. Only Israel and the US ignore all these developments, he claimed.

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Chomsky denied entry into Israel

Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Chomsky, 81, a frequent critic of Israeli and American policies, was detained for four hours at the Allenby Bridge entry point from Jordan on Sunday. ...

Chomsky denied entry into Israel

May 16, 2010

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Jewish-American professor Noam Chomsky was denied entry into Israel.

Chomsky, 81, a frequent critic of Israeli and American policies, was detained for four hours at the Allenby Bridge entry point from Jordan on Sunday. The professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was scheduled to deliver a lecture at Bir Zeit University near Ramallah.

An Israeli inspector reportedly told Chomsky that the U.S. Embassy would receive an explanation in writing, according to Haaretz. Ynet reported that Chomsky was told he was refused entry due to his political opinions by order of senior Israeli Interior Ministry officials.

A spokeswoman from the Interior MInistry told the Jerusalem Post that the decision to deny Chomsky entry was a "misunderstanding," the newspaper reported late Sunday, Sabine Hadad told the Jerusalem Post that if the IDF's Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories oks Chomsky's visit then he will be granted entry.

CHOMSKY MADE IT INTO THE WASHINGTON POST!!!

Stumble It!