Posted on 09/09/23
| News Source: JPost
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken must not move forward with accepting Israel into the visa waiver program, a group of 15 Democratic senators wrote.
This is because Israel is not expected to fully meet all the conditions by the deadline, according to a copy of the senators’ letter received by Walla on Thursday.
Blinken and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, who also received a copy of the letter, must announce by September 30 that Israel meets the conditions for joining the program.
Senior American and Israeli officials claim that at this stage the plan is for Blinken and Mayorkas to make an affirmative announcement and move forward with the process.
In mid-July, Israel and the United States signed a memorandum of understanding that defined the conditions for Israel’s entry into the program – which was a significant step forward in accepting Israel.
In the two months since then, Israel has implemented a pilot program, during which the US State Department and the Department of Homeland Defense monitored how Israeli authorities apply the new procedures toward Americans of Palestinian or Arab origin.