The Biden administration is allowing Israel to audition for a special status that would enable Israelis to travel to the U.S. without a visa — but only if Israel can prove it will no longer discriminate against Palestinian American travelers.
For more than a decade, Israel has sought membership in the United States' visa waiver program, a privilege enjoyed by about 40 mostly European countries whose citizens can enter the U.S. without visas.
But restrictions that the Israeli government puts on the movement of Palestinian Americans, including at times refusing to allow them to use the country's international airport, have meant it could not join the program, U.S. officials say.
