US Refuses to Include Israel in 'Visa Waiver Program'

Travelers Ben Gurion International Airport (Reuters)
Travelers Ben Gurion International Airport (Reuters)
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US Refuses to Include Israel in 'Visa Waiver Program'

Travelers Ben Gurion International Airport (Reuters)
Travelers Ben Gurion International Airport (Reuters)

The US Department of Homeland Security informed Israel that it has failed to meet the requirements to enter the visa waiver program.

Earlier, the Israeli government informed its citizens that it had reached the final arrangements to obtain an official US decision to cancel the entry visa.

On Wednesday, Haaretz reported that the matter remained confidential until the Assistant Secretary of Homeland Land Security, Alice Lugo, announced it in a letter sent last month to the Democratic Representative, Don Beyer.

In the letter to Beyer, Lugo stressed that "Israel does not currently meet all [visa waiver program] designation requirements, including extending reciprocal visa-free travel privileges to all US citizens and nationals."

In response, Beyer sent a letter to members of the US House of Representatives, calling on them to support pressuring Israel to withdraw the new "discriminatory restrictions" imposed by the Israeli military for entry into the West Bank to assure reciprocity for all US citizens.

Beyer prepared a petition for which he collects signatures from other US representatives, which will be directed to the several US and Israeli agencies.

In the petition, the representatives put forward a request to open a hotline to publish monthly reports for future visa waiver program evaluations.

He sent a letter to the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, saying that it is clear that "Israel cannot and should not be admitted into the visa waiver program under the status quo."

"It is incumbent upon Israel as a key US ally and beneficiary of significant aid to treat US citizens with dignity and respect regardless of race, religion, and ethnicity, and it is especially pertinent at this time because Israel is currently being evaluated for entry into the United States Visa Waiver Program," said Beyer.

He highlighted the "onerous and discriminatory" new restrictions issued by the Israeli army's Coordinating Office for Government Affairs in the Territories.

The Representative added that Israel "consistently refused to extend fair treatment to US visitors attempting to travel through Israeli controlled entry points," despite the visa waiver program's prerequisite of reciprocity.

"The State Department itself acknowledges in its travel advisory that US citizens traveling to Israel have been unfairly denied entry."

It is known that Israel has been in deliberations with the US authorities for several years to include it in the visa waiver program, which would allow Israelis to stay in the United States for 90 days for tourism or business, and would be a catalyst for economic cooperation.

Diplomatic sources in Tel Aviv noted that the only clause restricting the exemption is the "reciprocity" clause that obligates Israel to treat all US citizens equally upon their entry to Israel.

They indicated that travelers who are not white and Jewish have long complained about racial profiling at Ben Gurion Airport. Palestinians with US citizenship, meanwhile, travel via the Allenby Bridge crossing with Jordan.

In response to Israeli journalists, the US embassy spokesman said Israel "must extend reciprocal privileges to all US citizens and nationals, including Palestinian-Americans, as those the United States would extend to Israeli citizens."

"We seek equal treatment and freedom to travel for all such US travelers to Israel regardless of national origin or ethnicity."



Fuel to Air India Jet Engines Cut Off Moments Before Crash, Finds Probe

A firefighter stands next to the crashed Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, in Ahmedabad, India, June 13, 2025. (Reuters)
A firefighter stands next to the crashed Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, in Ahmedabad, India, June 13, 2025. (Reuters)
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Fuel to Air India Jet Engines Cut Off Moments Before Crash, Finds Probe

A firefighter stands next to the crashed Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, in Ahmedabad, India, June 13, 2025. (Reuters)
A firefighter stands next to the crashed Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, in Ahmedabad, India, June 13, 2025. (Reuters)

Fuel control switches to the engines of an Air India flight that crashed shortly after takeoff, killing 260 people, were moved from the "run" to the "cutoff" position moments before impact, a preliminary investigation report said early Saturday.

The report, issued by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, did not offer any conclusions or apportion blame for the June 12 disaster, but indicated that one pilot asked the other why he cut off fuel, and the second pilot responded that he had not.

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was headed from Ahmedabad in western India to London when it crashed, killing all but one of the 242 people on board as well as 19 people on the ground.

In its 15-page report, the investigation bureau said that once the aircraft achieved its top recorded speed, "the Engine 1 and Engine 2 fuel cutoff switches transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF position one after another with a time gap of 01 sec".

"In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff. The other pilot responded that he did not do so," it said.

The aircraft quickly began to lose altitude.

The switches then returned to the "RUN" position and the engines appeared to be gathering power, but "one of the pilots transmitted 'MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY'", the report said.

Air traffic controllers asked the pilots what was wrong, but then saw the plane crashing and called emergency personnel to the scene.

- Investigation ongoing -

Earlier this week, specialist website The Air Current, citing multiple sources familiar with the probe, reported it had "narrowed its focus to the movement of the engine fuel switches", while noting that full analysis will "take months -- if not longer".

It added that "the focus of the investigators could change during that time".

The Indian agency's report said that the US Federal Aviation Administration had issued an information bulletin in 2018 about "the potential disengagement of the fuel control switch locking feature".

Though the concern was not considered an "unsafe condition" that would warrant a more serious directive, Air India told investigators it did not carry out suggested inspections as they were "advisory and not mandatory".

Air India was compliant with all airworthiness directives and alert service bulletins on the aircraft, the report said.

The investigations bureau said there were "no recommended actions to B787-8 and/or GE GEnx-1B engine operators and manufacturers", suggesting no technical issues with the engines (GE) or the aircraft (Boeing).

Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The bureau said the investigation was ongoing, and that additional evidence and information has been "sought from the stakeholders".

The UN's International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) stipulates that states heading investigation must submit a preliminary report within 30 days of an accident.

US and British air accident investigators have taken part in the probe.

The plane was carrying 230 passengers -- 169 Indians, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian -- along with 12 crew members.

Dozens of people on the ground were injured.

One passenger miraculously survived, a British citizen who was seen walking out of the wreckage of the crash, and who has since been discharged from hospital.

Health officials in the Indian state of Gujarat initially said at least 279 people were killed, but forensic scientists reduced the figure after multiple scattered and badly burnt remains were identified.