Posted on 05/19/17
| News Source: Algemeiner
An Israeli reporter who was denied a visa to Saudi Arabia to cover President Donald Trump’s visit to the desert kingdom this weekend told The Algemeiner she thought the rejection was a “huge humiliation” for the White House.
Orly Azoulay — the Washington bureau chief for the Israeli daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth — explained that she had been approved to travel on the press plane accompanying the president to Saudi Arabia in his first overseas trip since taking office. But at the last minute, Azoulay stated, Saudi officials called the White House and said her visa request had not been approved.
The reporter, a dual Israeli-American citizen, said she believed she was not granted a visa because of her affiliation with Yedioth Ahronoth.
“It is a snub for the president,” Azoulay said. “I was part of the formal travel press, and that means that the Saudis could select who is coming with the president of the US. In the past I traveled to Saudi Arabia three times…They were ready to issue me a visa then but now, maybe they want to send some signal to the White House and the president.”
Azoulay also expressed her outrage in a tweet that she addressed to Trump, saying, “Saudis refused me visa to come on your trip because I am an Israeli reporter. Humiliating? Take me on AF1 [Air Force One]!”
She has yet to get a response from Trump or the White House.
She additionally posted a photo of her Saudi visa from 2007, when she visited the kingdom to cover a trip by then-President George W. Bush’s trip to the country.
Azoulay was not the only Israeli member of the press denied a visa for Saudi Arabia, where Trump will arrive on Saturday. Gil Tamary of Israel’s Channel 10, and Dan Raviv, an American-born reporter in Washington for the Israel-based i24 News TV channel, were similarly barred.