antisemitism, Israel, Quality of Jewish Life

US State Department: Israel Level 4 on No-Fly List

US dept of state

Even though Israel has had remarkable success with its vaccination program against COVID-19, the State Department placed Israel—along with the UK—at level 4 on its no-fly list due to its claim that Israel has a “very high level” of COVID-19 infections. This, despite the fact that Israel has closed all but one of its coronavirus wards, where just three patients were admitted for treatment last week. Israel’s economy—along with that of the UK—has reopened, and life is getting back to normal.

Meantime, China (!) and Japan, have stayed at “Level 3: Reconsider Travel” according to a Reuters report. Americans aren’t banned from traveling to the Jewish State, but one has to wonder at the rationale behind the ban. As always, we can’t help but think the designation may be motivated by antisemitism. On the other hand, that doesn’t explain why the UK is also at level 4, so we can only hope this surmise about Jew-hatred is wildly off-base.