A senior official at the US Embassy in Israel clarified today (Thursday) the implications of the delay in completing the legislation required to bring Israel into the visa exemption program. According to the official, there is a time interval of at least nine months to a year between the completion of the legislation and the procedural procedures, and the date when it will be possible start implementing the exemption in practice.
These words actually contradict the claim of Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud, according to which there will be no delay in Israel's entry into the program as a result of the Likud's refusal to support the legislation required to complete it.
Netanyahu claims that immediately after forming a government he will pass the legislation "in a responsible manner", and Israel will have time to enter the program by the set deadline, this spring.
On the other hand, the words of the American official make it clear that if the legislation had passed, the program's implementation procedure would have already been underway and the set deadline could have been met;
However, as long as the legislation is not passed, it is not possible to start the implementation process of the Knesset of Israel to the program, and therefore a significant delay will result.
It is important to note that the American agency did not point an accusing finger at Netanyahu, the Likud or any political entity.
However, the practical meaning of his words is that Netanyahu's claim is invalid.
"It is essential that the Knesset move forward with the legislation on visas now, and not wait for the next government," the source clarified.
"The sooner the legislation is passed, the sooner we can start the processes that currently simply cannot be promoted."
According to the source, this is mainly about establishing a complex computer system for sharing information between Israel and two US authorities - the Ministry of Homeland Security and the Customs and Borders Authority - and in addition all the airlines that fly between the two countries, which will also have to be included in the system. "If we wait until a new government is formed it will be with a significant delay, so the most important thing is not to lose momentum and act now, as Ambassador Naides also made clear."
Queue to issue a visa to the USA. Those photographed have nothing to do with the article, photo: AP
The legislation in dispute is supposed to allow Israel and the US limited mutual access to their information systems. Each country will be able to submit a thousand queries a year regarding citizens of the other country who seek to enter it - including regarding their criminal records. Netanyahu claims that this is an invasion of privacy that cannot be reconciled with, this despite that before the elections were brought forward, a message was sent from his office to the embassy that the Likud would support the legislation. In practice, the Likud's position on the issue was reversed only after it became clear that Israel was going to the elections, and the current government would be able to boast of the achievement of the visa exemption.
The American official also clarified that the requirements that Israel is asked to meet are the same as those that all the countries that are members of the program are required to implement: "I want to assure you that the requirements are not unique to Israel - each of the dozens of countries that joined the program was required to meet the same requirements. The EU countries are also required to provide this information as part of from the visa exemption program.
"Uniform standard for all participants in the exemption program"
"This is essential from the point of view of the US Department of Homeland Security and it is important to clarify that this is not a specific matter 'against' Israel, but rather a demand from Israel to meet the uniform standard required of all participants in the program.
Other organizations, such as the International Aviation Organization, set similar requirements."
The source also clarified that there is an importance for the immediate promotion of the legislation also in connection with the rate of visa application refusals.
The requirement in the American law is that the refusal rate among the applicants should be less than 3%, and only then can the country be admitted to the visa exemption program.
For years the rate of refusals in Israel was significantly higher, sometimes reaching more than 6%.
"It is important to understand that the figure regarding the refusal rate for visa applications was 'cut' in September, so the rate for September 2022 will be 'locked' until September 2023," the source explained.
"Currently, it seems that the trend is positive and that the rate of refusals is decreasing, even though we still do not have final numbers. We need to take advantage of this opportunity and move forward, because there is no guarantee that the rate of refusals will remain below the required threshold of three percent between September 2023 and September 2024."
According to the source, "The main decrease in the refusal rate is due to the success of the campaign we conducted to correctly fill out the visa forms - many of the refusals in the past were technical, as a result of mistakes that Israelis made in the application process, and in the last year we have witnessed a considerable improvement in this area. Israel made amazing progress in 2022. During For nearly eight years, we only 'wrangled' about the refusal rate for visa requests, and under the leadership of Ambassador Naides and the Israeli cooperation, we managed to reach a breakthrough."
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