Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked (Yamina) is in Washington DC to promote the waiving of the visa requirement for Israeli citizens to enter the US.
Shaked explained in an interview with Ynet why the move has faced delays and expressed her hope it would be implemented within the next two years,
"This is something that will take time, there is a willingness on the part of the American administration," Shaked said. "We are ready to do the right thing. I have set up an inter-ministerial team that includes several government ministries to do all the tasks we are obliged to do to get the visa waiver."
"There are two main obstacles," the minister explained. ''One is the percentage of refusals that are higher than necessary, and the other is an American demand to have a system of automatic queries for our criminal records, it's also something we will have to build in Israel."
"I hope that if we work properly, we will be able to get rid of the world of visas within a year or two," the interior minister said.