Emergency at Ben Gurion: How is a deaf woman a danger to Israel?
Last night, Thursday 14 Dec, at 11pm I received a phone call from Saida Ahmad Mahmoud in al-Bireh, desperately asking for help for her 44 year old sister-in-law Linda Ali Mahmoud, a US-citizen from Cleveland-Ohio.
Linda was being held at Ben Gurion airport since 4pm and threatened with immediate deportation. She is deaf like her brother Shukri Ali Mahmoud and could only communicate via SMS on her mobile phone. Reason for the denied entry given was that her brother Shukri, also US-citizen, had overstayed his visa in the West Bank, although his passport was submitted for regular renewal after October 16th, when the Israeli Minirty of Interior liaison at the civil administration stopped processing 'tourist visas' for foreigners married to Palestinian ID-holders! Shukri and Saida understood that the deportation was to be executed quickly unless the family could provide a $2000 amount for an injunction and legal costs, so that Linda could be kept at the airport prison cell until a court would intervene.
Dorothy Naor on the Israeli side contacted an official of the US-Embassy and lawyer Gaby Laski hoping that they could intervene. We tried feverishly to obtain Linda's passport number for proper identification, while her passport was being held with the Israeli security people. That took time and eventually the family and Linda decided that they could not afford to put up $2000 or more just for a 3-week visit. So Linda spent the night in the detention cell, with a dying phone battery, and was finally deported back to the US at 11am today, Friday 15 Dec.
Linda had travelled especially from Cleveland/Ohio to spend 3 weeks with her paternal aunt who is currently being treated for cancer at Hadassa hospital, and with her brothers to see their young children and Saida's new baby expected to be born in the next few days. Linda was expected to see and assist the family here during difficult times.
Linda's deportation is another signal of despair and disbelief. The Campaign cannot rest!