To the editor:
The headline of the op-ed "Why Won't Israel Let Me Mourn My Father?" was blatantly misleading and the commentary went downhill from there.
Raed Jarrar's father didn't live in Israel, didn't die here and, although Jarrar slyly omits any reference to his father's funeral, clearly wasn't buried here. So it's pretty obvious Israel didn't keep Jarrar from his father's funeral and didn't prevent him from mourning his father's death.
It's also reasonable to infer Jarrar never actually intended to visit Jenin, where he claims his "extended family" lives. He was clearly aware of the law which sensibly bars entry to non-citizens trying to delegitimize and ultimate destroy Israel using the despicable BDS, boycott, divestment and sanctions, movement. It would appear he traveled with another active defamer of Israel as insurance that we wouldn't be foolish enough to let him in.
It seems to me that, rather than wanting to mourn his father, Jarrar was really interested in creating an incident he could use as propaganda against Israel. Either that, or he's not nearly as intelligent as he seems to be.
Sincerely,
Alan Stein