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On May 30, 2022 Arutz 7 reported "The US embassy in Israel recently informed Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu that his Visa to enter the US has been revoked, USA Today reported. According to the report, this is an unusual move as the visa did not expire, but was revoked in a move initiated by the State Department. Rabbi Eliyahu is one of the most prominent rabbis in Israel, having served for decades as the Chief Rabbi of Safed and on the Chief Rabbinical Council. The US embassy refused to comment on the reasons for the move, stating that it does not address personal issues related to US visas.. Israeli officials believe the move may be related to Rabbi Eliyahu's past statements regarding Israel's Arab population, including a call not to rent apartments to Israeli Arabs."
Rabbi Eliyahu has called for Jews not to rent apartments to Arabs in Safed. Arabs, however, refuse to rent apartments to Jews in Israeli Arab communities and many are aggressive against Jews to the point where, if Jews by accident make a wrong turn into an Arab city, they are attacked with stones,
During the last IDF operation in Gaza, Guardian of the Walls, Arabs rioted in mixed poulation cities such as Lod, destroying property, burning synagogues and throwing large rocks that critically injured a Jewish man on his way home in Akko, The man later died.
Rabbi Eliyahu was concerned about the results of a creeping Arab takeover of Safed. Haaretzreported "Safed Rabbis Urge Jews to Refrain From Renting Apartments to Arabs...Last week, Safed played host to an "emergency conference" which was held under the banner "Quiet War: Combating Assimilation in the Holy City of Safed"...Speakers at the conference expressed concern over plans to build a medical school in the city which they said would exacerbate the problem of "the Arab takeover of Safed."
On March 11, 2021 Arutz 7 reported Rabbi Eliyahu's call to Jews not to rent apartments to Arabs "It is forbidden to rent apartments to them," Rabbi Eliyahu said. He noted that in Safed, because no one would rent apartments to Arabs, the city's residents were able to walk freely, even when there were riots in other locations."
The Palestinian Authority currently has a law that calls for the death penalty for Arabs that sell real state to Jews. On April 30, 2019 the media reported "A Palestinian Authority court that convened in Nablus on Wednesday sentenced a Palestinian to five years in prison for attempting to sell land to Israeli Jews...According to the law, possible punishments for trying to sell or selling land to Israeli Jews include various degrees of hard labor and imprisonment as well as execution."
In Decdember 2018, Arutz Shevareported: "Ramallah court sentences American citizen with Israeli ID card to life in prison and hard labor for land sale to Jews."
Mahmoud Abbas is not condemned internationally and certainly not by the United Nations for the Palestinian Authority law calling for a death penalty to Arabs who sell a property to Jews. When is the State Department going to revoke his visa?
Ezequiel Doiny is author of "Obama's assault on Jerusalem's Western Wall"