New Israel Fund head slams Netanyahu over Peter Beinart’s airport detention

The head of the left-leaning New Israel Fund slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government after Jewish-American activist Peter Beinart was questioned and detained at Ben Gurion Airport.

“The Netanyahu government has shown once again that it is now a matter of policy to use border crossings as interrogation chambers. The government is demonstrating that the test for entering the country is a political one — either you agree with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultra-right wing coalition or you’re subject to questioning, intimidation, or refusal,” CEO Daniel Sokatch says in a statement.

“This may be legal, but it’s morally unacceptable and anti-democratic,” he adds.

Sokatch calls Beinart’s detention a “clarion call” on the state of Israeli democracy. “The time to speak up is now,” he says.