Israel denies rights worker entry in anti-boycott push

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel has denied entry to a US employee of Amnesty International as part of controversial efforts to bar supporters of a boycott over its occupation of Palestinian territory, officials said on Wednesday.

Amnesty and Israeli officials said Raed Jarrar, an advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa at the rights group, was prevented from entering the occupied West Bank on Monday.

A spokeswoman for Israel's interior ministry said the office of Public Security and Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan had recommended he be denied entry over "BDS", — the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

She could not provide further details and a spokesman for Erdan could not be reached for comment.

Amnesty alleged that the refusal was "apparently as retaliation against the organisation's human rights work".

 Jarrar, who is of Palestinian origin, was stopped at a crossing between Jordan and the West Bank while on a personal trip to visit family following his father's death, Amnesty said.

Israel controls the crossing on the West Bank side.

"The fact that Raed Jarrar was barred from entry after being interrogated about his work with Amnesty International appears to suggest that this move was taken in retaliation for the organisation's work on human rights violations in the [occupied Palestinian territories]," Amnesty's Philip Luther said in a statement.

Israel passed legislation in March banning entry to foreigners who support boycotting the country or its settlements, which are seen as illegal under international law.

It sees the boycott movement as a strategic threat and accuses it of anti-Semitism — a claim activists deny, saying they only want to see an end to Israel's occupation.