After denied entry to West Bank, Chomsky likens Israel to 'Stalinist regime'

After denied entry to West Bank, Chomsky likens Israel to 'Stalinist regime'

Linguist Noam Chomsky was scheduled to lecture at Bir Zeit University near Ramallah, meet PA Prime Minister Fayyad.

By Amira Hass Tags: Israel news West Bank Noam Chomsky

The Interior Ministry refused to let linguist Noam Chomsky into Israel and the West Bank on Sunday. Chomsky, who aligns himself with the radical left, had been scheduled to lecture at Bir Zeit University near Ramallah, and visit Bil'in and Hebron, as well as meet with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and various Palestinian activists.

In a telephone conversation last night from Amman, Chomsky told Haaretz that he concluded from the questions of the Israeli official that the fact that he came to lecture at a Palestinian and not an Israeli university led to the decision to deny him entry.

"I find it hard to think of a similar case, in which entry to a person is denied because he is not lecturing in Tel Aviv. Perhaps only in Stalinist regimes," Chomsky told Haaretz.

<snip>

Chomsky, a Jewish professor of linguistics and philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, had spent several months at Kibbutz Hazore'a during the 1950s and had considered a longer stay in Israel. He had been invited by the Department of Philosophy at Bir Zeit.

He planned to spend four days in the West Bank and give two lectures.

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http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/after-denied-entry-to-west-bank-chomsky-likens-israel-to-stalinist-regime-1.290736

Only rightwingers get the welcome mat.

since Stalin, rocket-bombs included...and the ubiquitous "inner-party" members always looking to suppress orthodoxy. Clearly no where near Stalinist Russia, but the current regime in Israel is creeping that way.

Chomsky is now their Goldstein. I really hope the left in Israel can swing things their way in the next election.

I don't get it? It's not like everything is going swimmingly.