US activist says Israel blocked her entry over Palestinian rights advocacy

Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian-American activist, said Israel has barred her from visiting Palestine because of her advocacy for Palestinian rights.

In a social media post, Sarsour said, “My advocacy for the concept that all people are created equal and deserve freedom and human rights is so terrifying to a genocidal apartheid regime that they will bar the entry of a prominent Palestinian-American mom and grandmother from New York.”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) condemned the reported ban, saying “it is long past time” for US authorities to “defend the rights of American citizens and others to visit Palestine without interference”.

In a statement, CAIR added: “Apartheid Israel does not have the moral or legal right to cut off Palestinian-Americans from their families and loved ones living under occupation.”

We strongly condemn the Israeli apartheid government for banning @lsarsour from visiting her family, her friends, and her homeland in occupied Palestine.

This act of sheer racism that the Netanyahu regime has perpetrated against Linda Sarsour is nothing new. Israel has spent… pic.twitter.com/WlT9QKtK1G

— CAIR National (@CAIRNational) June 2, 2026