Israeli authorities have substantially increased entry denials to foreign visitors, according to legal representatives assisting those turned away at borders. The Interior Ministry reported denying more than 21,000 electronic travel authorization requests since 2025 for visitors from the United States, Canada, European Union nations, and visa-exempt countries. Legal experts note that grounds for denial have expanded to include suspected anti-Israel sentiments, organizational affiliations, and planned activities in Palestinian territories that would not have triggered rejections in earlier periods.
Recent high-profile cases illustrate the pattern. In August, Israeli border agents denied entry to most members of a comedy group invited to perform at the Palestine Comedy Festival in the West Bank, detaining and deporting them from Ben Gurion Airport. The same month, a multifaith U.S. delegation seeking to tour the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem was blocked at the Jordan-Israel border. Israeli lawyers report that interrogations increasingly focus on travelers’ opinions regarding the Oct. 7 attacks, potential connections to Palestinian activists, and social media activity, with inconsistencies in responses sometimes serving as grounds for exclusion.
Israeli officials characterize the entry restrictions as standard security measures applied uniformly to all visitors. The U.S. State Department stated that such denials are consistent with the application of Israeli law to protect against security threats. However, the pattern has accelerated following events in late 2023, with entry bans expanding beyond individuals of Arab descent to include Jewish Americans and European citizens.
In 2025, Israel enacted legislation prohibiting entry to those who deny the October 7 attacks, call for Israeli military prosecution in international courts, or advocate boycotts of Israel. Recent months have also seen the blocking of European Parliament members from a Swedish left-wing party who had called for international prosecution of Israeli officials and accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, which Israeli authorities strongly dispute.
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