April 12th, 2010 7:58 am
CORRECTION: Visa Policy For Israeli Nuclear Scientists Did Not Begin With
Obama Admin
http://pajamasmedia.com/rogerlsimon/2010/04/12/correction-visa-policy-for-israeli-nuclear-scientists-did-not-begin-with-obama-admin/

On April 8, 2010, I wrote an article in this space implying that the Obama
administration had instituted a new policy restricting entry to the United
States for Israeli nuclear scientists who worked at the Dimona reactor. I
based my article on a report from the Israeli website/newspaper Maariv,
which quoted the nuclear engineering professor Zeev Alfassi as its primary
source.

This morning (Pacific time) I was able to reach Dr. Alfassi in his office at
Ben Gurion University in the Negev. Apparently, my report — and the
newspaper’s — was inaccurate. The professor informed me that while it was
extremely difficult for scientists who worked at Dimona to obtain U.S.
visas, this was not a new policy of the Obama administration. This problem
has been going on since 9/11.

Alfassi explained that formerly he and other scientists were able to go
through travel agents to obtain visas to the U.S. Now they have to go
personally to the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv. He knows of at least one case of
a scientist who was not able to attend a conference in this country because
of this system. European scientists, he said, did not have this problem.

Dr. Alfassi was quite cordial in answering my questions and I thank him.