Omar Barghouti’s reaction to the news that he may be denied a renewal of his travel documents, and as a result his ability to continue to live in Tel Aviv as a permanent resident, is the perfect microcosm of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
According to Arutz Sheva,
‘Israel is imposing this travel ban on me, demonizing me and threatening me to intimidate me into silence,’ he [said], vowing to continue his work.
Barghouti is a doctoral candidate at Tel Aviv University, while he simultaneously spearheads economic warfare against Israel in the form of BDS.
His complaint is typical of anti-Israel forces: he believes that he should be allowed to continuously attack Israel without any repercussions.
Just as Hamas thinks that it should be able to fire rockets into Israel and then complains when Israel takes military action in response, just as Fatah thinks it should finance terrorism against Israelis without Israel imposing checkpoints and other security measures, Barghouti thinks that he should be permitted to incite boycotts and call for lawfare against Israel, while continuing to live and study comfortably there.
