Emma Goldberg writes:

Israel’s decision to block Representatives Tlaib and Omar, though shocking, is no surprise. Rather, it is part of a trend just as alarming as it is persistent for a country long hailed as “the sole democracy in the Middle East.”

Three years ago, Israel passed the so-called “NGO Law,” a piece of legislation that asked human rights organizations to declare whether they receive the majority of their funding from foreign sources. The effect was to stigmatize pro-peace and left-leaning groups like B’Tselem and Breaking the Silence, sending the signal that their support doesn’t come organically from within the country.

That same year, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan proposed sanctions against Israelis who actively oppose official government policy toward the Palestinians. It would take a whole lot of spin to label sanctions against dissent as somehow democratic.

Last July, Israel barred Boycott Divestment Sanctions activist Ariel Gold from entering the country. She was told by authorities that among her violations was “telling soldiers in Hebron they weren’t acting with Jewish morals.” Then, in August Simone Zimmerman, an American Jewish activist and founder of IfNotNow, was held at the border and questioned, and prominent writer Peter Beinart was detained at Ben-Gurion airport. [Continue reading…]