Linda Sarsour. Photo: Festival of Faiths via Wikimedia Commons

Israel has banned prominent Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour, one of the world’s most outspoken opponents of the Jewish state, from entering the country, Israeli Minister of Diaspora and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli announced on Tuesday in a post on X.

“Sovereign nations protect their borders. Israel will no longer open its gates to those who work to destroy it,” Chikli wrote. “Following a thorough investigation by the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, I have recommended a complete ban on Linda Sarsour’s entry into Israel.”

“Her central goal is to isolate and weaken the Jewish state. Whoever dedicates their life to isolating and harming Israel will not walk our streets. Period,” Chikli added, after listing some of Sarsour’s past activism against Israel.

Sarsour shared on Facebook an email she received from the Israel Population and Immigration Authority, which shows that her entry application to enter Israel was initially approved on May 25 but then revoked “due to a change in circumstances in your case.” The activist was planning to visit family in “Palestine” this summer, she said in a Facebook video.

Sarsour claimed she was denied entry into Israel because of her “advocacy for justice and freedom for the Palestinian people.” She called Israel a “genocidal apartheid regime” and urged the US to “stop arming and funding them immediately.”

The native New Yorker is a longtime supporter of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and helped his mayoral campaign. She is also a prominent figure in the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel and, like Mamdani, is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), an organization that is explicitly anti-Zionist and “whose factions openly celebrated the Oct. 7 massacre,” Chikli said. Following the deadly terrorist attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, DSA released a statement defending the attack and some DSA chapters and bodies glorified the Palestinian “resistance.”

“She has incited students on American campuses, led campaigns to sabotage Microsoft’s defense contracts with the IDF [Israel Defense Forces], and specifically targeted Unit 8200,” Chikli added about Sarsour, referring to the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate’s main information gathering unit.

Sarsour co-founded and leads the Muslim advocacy group MPower Change and first gained widespread recognition as a leader of the Women’s March in 2017.