International activists try to cross the Jord
International activists try to cross the JordReuters

50 leftist pro-Arab activists were prevented from entering Israel through its border crossing with Jordan on Sunday.

Channel 10 News reported that the activists were part of a group of 100 activists who were making their way to Bethlehem and were attempting to enter Israel through the Allenby Bridge. The activists claimed that they intended to take part in a “week of solidarity with the Palestinians,” according to the report.

Half of the members of the group realized that they will not be able to enter Israel from Jordan and gave up on trying to reach the border crossing. When the bus carrying the remaining activists arrived at the Israeli side of the bridge, Channel 10 reported, Israeli authorities boarded it, collected the activists’ passports and then returned them with a stamp which says they have been refused entry to Israel.

The group, which included citizens of France, Belgium and other European countries, is made up of the same activists who staged the anti-Israel “flytilla” at the Ben Gurion Airport last April. Israel detained 40 activists who arrived at the airport during that attempt to cause provocation. They were subsequently sent back to their countries of origin.

The activists later announced that they are planning on organizing an additional campaign, scheduled to take place in late August. Sunday’s incident may have been that campaign.

A diplomatic source told Channel 10 that the activists who attempted to cross the border are known anarchists who are notorious for trying to cause provocations.

“Like any other country, Israel will also not let these factors enter its territory,” the official said. “However, human rights activists who come to help PA Arabs in Judea and Samaria enter without interruption.”

The activists who tried to enter Israel in April were given sarcastic letters which “thanked them” for choosing to make Israel the object of their humanitarian concerns rather than protest the deadly crackdown on protests in Syria or the Iranian regime’s brutal crackdown on dissent.”