Latest news with #KehillaCommunitySynagogue
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Palestinians travelers detained at SFO airport, denied entry despite valid visas
The Brief Supporters of the visitors gathered at the airport's international terminal. A San Francisco supervisor said the detention was an "unprecedented suppression of speech." Supporters protested at the airport for over eight hours, demanding their visas be reinstated. SAN FRANCISCO - Two Palestinian travelers were denied entry into the United States despite having valid visitor visas. Supporters gathered at the San Francisco International Airport on Thursday, protesting the detention of the Palestinians, including San Francisco Supervisor Bilal Mahmood. Supporters of the visitors gathered at the airport's international terminal. The pair arrived on Wednesday after being invited to participate in a Bay Area interfaith speaking series. The visitors were detained for over 18 hours, according to the nonprofit Arab Resource and Organizing Center. The nonprofit said the travelers were an educator and an artist with a "longstanding relationship" with Piedmont's Kehilla Community Synagogue and Alameda's Buena Vista United Methodist Church. The organization said they were on a humanitarian mission to thank their supporters at the synagogue and to fundraise for a summer camp in their village, Masafer Yatta. What they're saying "They had valid visas on entry and yet they were revoked on entry," Mahmood said. "According to the public defender's office, when I talked with them earlier [Thursday], and were the first to notify me of this issue as well. They haven't heard of this type of issue happening in over 10 years at SFO." Mahmood said the detention was an "unprecedented suppression of speech." "This overreach to deport peace activists sets a dangerous precedent for the direction of our nation. Now more than ever, it is important for us all to speak out against injustice and fight to defend our civil rights," he said. Supporters protested at the airport for over eight hours, demanding their visas be reinstated. However, the pair were eventually booked on a 4 p.m. to Doha, Qatar by officials. It's unclear why the pair was denied entry and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol has not commented. "While we weren't able to reverse this unjust detention today, we did demonstrate that we will mobilize by the hundreds at a moment's notice to defend our people," said Mohamed Shehk with the nonprofit. "The genocide against our loved ones in Gaza is still raging on. We must also resist the fascist ICE raids on our immigrant communities and end the attacks on Black and brown people everywhere." KTVU reached out to Kehilla Community Synagogue and Buena Vista United Methodist Church for comment but did not hear in time for publication.
Middle East Eye
a day ago
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
US deports two Palestinians who landed with valid visas for an interfaith mission
Two Palestinian peace activists who were detained upon landing in the US during a trip sponsored by a synagogue were deported from San Francisco on Friday, friends and fellow activists have told Middle East Eye. Eid Hathaleen and Awdah Hathaleen, cousins from the Masafer Yatta village of Umm al-Khair in the occupied West Bank, possessed valid visas and, after being detained, had their visas revoked upon landing in the US on Wednesday. Eid, an artist and photographer, and Awdah, an English teacher and contributor to Israeli magazine +972, landed in San Francisco on a flight from Doha, Qatar, on Wednesday. The trip was sponsored by Kehilla Community Synagogue in Piedmont, California. The cousins were scheduled to speak at churches, synagogues, and other establishments as part of an interfaith humanitarian mission that was supposed to take them from California to Washington, DC, and then Boston. Eid had been to the United States multiple times on the visa he held. Awdah had been issued a visa in May and was going to the US for the first time. But the two were detained on arrival, had their visas summarily revoked, and were informed that they would be deported in 24 hours. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Phil Weintraub, lead organiser of a Palestinian solidarity committee at the Kehilla Community Synagogue in Piedmont, which sponsored the trip, told MEE: 'We are heartbroken that our friends were denied entry for their humanitarian mission. They came to thank us and raise funds for their village's summer camp. The Trump regime cancelling their visas was an act of cruelty and nothing else.' The two landed back in Qatar on Friday. They are currently stuck there, with no flights onwards to Jordan because of Israel's attack on Iran. 'Non-violent peace activists' US authorities have so far provided no explanation for their actions, despite a Bay Area congressional delegation that includes senior Democrat Nancy Pelosi issuing a statement demanding a justification for the deportations. Erin Axelman, co-director of the documentary Israelism, who has seen Eid speak on numerous occasions and is a supporter of his work, told MEE the cousins were 'profoundly important Palestinian peace activists who travelled to the US legally at the invite of progressive Jewish communities, for a speaking tour about peace and justice in Palestine.' 'The Trump administration detained them, and now deported them, solely because they are Palestinian,' Axelman said. 'Detaining Eid and Awhad does nothing to advance Jewish safety, saying so is a horrible joke, and is offensive to Jewish Americans' - Erin Axelman, filmmaker and activist Ben Linder, co-chair of the Silicon Valley chapter of J Street and the organiser of Eid and Awdah's first scheduled speaking engagement, which was supposed to take place at a Methodist church on Thursday, told MEE that friends and sponsors of the Palestinians had similarly been kept in the dark. Linder, who has known the cousins for ten years, described them as "true non-violent peace activists". "They came here on an interfaith peace-promoting mission. Having the US government revoke already granted, already screened visas, to crack down on peace activism is a new chapter," Linder said. "That peace activism by Palestinians is verboten is a scary, scary thought." According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, since October last year, the US has "removed" 157,948 people from the country, which includes 72,179 done during the first 100 days of Trump's administration. The administration claims it has removed double that figure, but those numbers have not yet been verified. Many of those removed from the country had valid visas or permanent residency and are part of a mass deportation plan pledged during Trump's presidential campaign. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he has revoked thousands of visas, primarily from students. The administration says it has also arrested over 158,000 "illegal aliens". A large number of the deportations or revocations of visas have been done on the basis of people's views or protests related to the Israel-Palestine conflict, and people with pro-Palestinian views have been targeted and punished for those views. The administration routinely equates pro-Palestinian activism with antisemitism. "Detaining Eid and Awhad does nothing to advance Jewish safety, saying so is a horrible joke, and is offensive to Jewish Americans who see similarities between how Palestinians are being treated, and how Jews were treated in Europe for so many centuries,' Axelman, the filmmaker, who is Jewish, said.
San Francisco Chronicle
2 days ago
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Feds detain two Palestinian visitors at SFO who arrived for humanitarian mission
Two Palestinian visitors expected to participate in a Bay Area interfaith speaking series were detained at the San Francisco International Airport Wednesday, despite having valid visitor visas, and are being denied entry into the U.S., advocates told the Chronicle. San Francisco Supervisor Bilal Mahmood told the Chronicle early Thursday morning that there was an 'urgent situation unfolding' at the airport after police detained the two men, who were scheduled to speak at a series of Bay Area interfaith events. Protesters were already expected to swarm SFO to support the two men, whose identities are being withheld to protect their safety. The two men, residents of a Bedouin village on the West Bank, were invited by local faith communities, including the Kehilla Community Synagogue and the Buena Vista and Los Altos United Methodist Churches, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations. One of the men is an artist and photographer. The other is a teacher. Both are parents. Phillip Weintraub, a lead organizer of the Kehilla Community Synagogue's partnership with the men's village, said both men were not connected to any Palestinian political organizations and were committed to nonviolence. One had met previously with congressional representatives, including the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Weintraub said. The two activists had speaking engagements in Alameda, Santa Clara, Oakland and other Bay Area cities. 'They had valid visas but were invalidated on entry without cause,' Mahmood said in a text. 'I am here with their Jewish sponsors, whose synagogue they were here to speak at tomorrow.' Mahmood said in a social media post that the two activists have been held at the airport since 1 p.m. Wednesday and were prepared to send them back on a plane to the Middle East. Bay Area faith leaders demanded that the two men be released immediately and for the State Department and Department of Homeland Security to 'stop targeting Palestinian travelers' and uphold the right to free speech and 'peaceful interfaith exchange.' Weintraub said his community has had a relationship with the men for three years as part of an interfaith 'reparative alliance' envisioned as connecting American Jews, Israelis and Palestianians to promote non-violence in Israel and Palestine. 'They're known, wonderful folks,' Weintraub said. 'Coming over to connect, promote interfaith connection between Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities. They're trying to survive and live in peace.' Weintraub said he arrived at the airport after 1 p.m. yesterday to pick them up for a flight from Doha, but they never showed up. He received a call from a Customs and Border Protection agent that night saying, 'they will not be entering the United States,' he said. This is a developing story. Check for updates.
