Re: “Letter to the editor: Ban on dissenters undemocratic,” by Wyatt Barnes (Sept. 2, Page A6):
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib was at first banned from visiting Israel because of her participation in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
If Mr. Barnes really wants to be effective as part of the BDS movement, he should Google Israeli inventions and innovation so he can eliminate everything that offends him. If he supports BDS, he had better get rid of his computer and cellphone; stop finding his way using Waze; hope that there is some other therapy for potentially fatal abnormal heart rhythms other than an implantable defibrillator; don’t get a digestive ailment because the ingestible micro camera is Israeli technology; avoid eating farmed fish; don’t buy any food raised using drip irrigation; and don’t go to airports because the primary screening device for spotting terrorists – WeCU – was developed by Israelis.
He might also want to look at how Palestinian aid money has been used – much of it not to improve infrastructure but to build tunnels to attack Israel and to reward the families of “martyrs.”
Israel is indeed a democracy, with a free press and a representative government. The United States bans entry to those it deems a danger to its safety. Why shouldn’t other countries be able to?
Elaine Kahaner
Cape Elizabeth
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