Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Israel Worries That ‘Muslim Ban’ Could Apply to Some Citizens

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel reportedly is seeking clarification of whether the U.S. travel ban on nationals from seven Arab countries applies to Israelis born in those countries.

The French news agency AFP reported that Israel’s Foreign Ministry has been seeking information on whether the ban covers tens of thousands of Israeli citizens, mostly elderly, who were born in those countries.

Asked by AFP, the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem referred the question to the U.S. State Department. AFP reported that several hours after the question was passed on, the State Department did not have an answer.

Some 140,000 Israelis were born in the seven countries covered in the 90-day travel ban imposed by the executive order signed Friday by President Donald Trump. About 45,000 were born in Iran and 53,000 in Iraq, according to AFP, citing official statistics.

Most Israeli government leaders and opposition leaders have refrained from commenting publicly on the ban, The Times of Israel news website reported.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.