Two Palestinian humanitarians who were blocked from entering the United States, despite holding valid visas, have been put on a flight to Qatar, advocates said, over 24 hours after they were first detained at the San Francisco international airport.
About 100 people had gathered at SFO on Thursday morning in support of the two men, demanding they be released.
Mission Local first reported the detention of Eid Hthaleen and Awdah Al-Hathaleen, who were arriving in the Bay Area to speak about their experiences living in the West Bank and to thank their supporters in Jewish and Christian communities.
“We are not afraid. We are not afraid. We will stand for liberation, ‘cause we know why we were made,” people sang together at the arrivals gate of the international terminal, holding signs calling for the release of the two men and an end to genocide of Palestinians.
David Cooper is the rabbi emeritus of Kehilla Community Synagogue in Piedmont, which was helping sponsor the two men. He was distraught by the two men’s detention.
“The United States government is now not wanting these human-to-human connections with people from outside our immediate experience,” Cooper said, noting that the rejection of visitors came on top of resident immigrant deportations that have swept the country in recent weeks.
Cooper said he has known both men for eight years, and visited them several times in their West Bank village, which he said is dedicated to non-violence despite being subject to destruction by the Israeli government.
In addition to speaking at different interfaith events, they were also raising funds for school supplies and a children’s summer camp in their village.
“They’re here on valid tourist visas; it’s racism,” said Michelle Higgins, who was planning to attend a talk at a Los Altos church today and woke up this morning to learn that it was canceled. “It’s silencing Palestinian voices, but it’s something that we’re used to.”
The two men were sponsored by Phillip Weintraub, a leader at the Kehilla Community Synagogue, who waited for them for several hours at the airport on Wednesday afternoon before eventually learning that their visas had been revoked and the men would be deported soon.
Weintraub was among the dozens gathered this morning from various community organizations wearing keffiyehs and holding signs that said “Jews say stop the genocide of Palestinians” and “SF welcomes our Palestinian speakers and friends.”
“I’ve been heartened by the energy and enthusiasm and support for our friends, and hopeful that our voices on some level are getting through to our friends who are detained here,” Weintraub said. “That they know we’re here in solidarity and doing all we can to try and pressure authorities to make the right decision and allow them to stay.”
Weintraub said he still had no additional information beyond being told by U.S. customs officials last night that the two men would not be permitted into the country and would be returned to the West Bank.
In the afternoon, the group closed in on an arrivals door, chanting, “No deportations, let them go!” The door was eventually blocked from the inside.
At just before 4 p.m., Weintraub said he had been informed that his two visitors had been put onto a 3:55 flight to Qatar and a connection to Jordan.
When asked if there was anything else he or anyone could do, he could only silently shake his head.
Note: Awdah Al-Hathaleen‘s name is also spelled as Ouda Alhadlin on his documents, but those familiar with him said he used the former spelling.
Many don’t want it to be, but for anyone who wasn’t alive during the Vietnam War era, Gaza/Palestine is the moral issue of our lifetime.
Those trying to undermine anti-genocide protest integrated into ICE protests can see here the relevancy, not that there need be.
I was around then. I hid my veteran status. Not be called a baby killer. How is Vietnam and Gaza moral equivalents.
Not equivalent, but touchstone events that involve a moral reckoning.
It could be the government equated pro-Palestine with pro-Hamas. The demonstrators holding a sign claiming genocide would rise that concern.
Read it again, start at the beginning.