Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked accused Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday of delaying Israel's progress in joining the US Visa Waiver Program due to political considerations.
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"We are at a very advanced stage in the process. We have the full backing of the administration and President [Joe] Biden, but at the moment what is holding up the process is the lack of Likud support to advance the necessary legislation," she said, expressing hope that "the Likud will reconsider."
Although the Likud originally said it would support the bill that would allow Israelis to travel to the United States without issuing visas, it changed its policy after the Knesset voted to dissolve, conditioning support for the legislation on a series of concessions by the coalition.
US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides, who views the Visa Waiver project as his personal, is said to frown upon the delays. After finding out that Netanyahu would not support the legislation, Nides asked to speak with the former prime minister and even visited the Knesset in an attempt to change the decision.
In an interview with Israel Hayom last month, Nides said, "There's a lot of things Israelis need to do legislatively through the Knesset, which we are working on. There's a reason why people have been trying to do this for 15 years, and it hasn't gotten done. Maybe we can get it done this year ... This is a herculean task, and I have a lot of people working on this. We're doing this for the Israeli people, to ease their ability to travel to the United States."
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