They received a boost last year when US President Joe Biden told then-prime minister Naftali Bennett that it was something he wanted to see through, and that he had instructed his staff to play its part in doing so. Israeli efforts to become the 41st party to join the program have been underway for years. International passengers arrive at Miami International Airport before they are screened by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) using facial biometrics to automate manual document checks required for admission into the US on November 20, 2020, in Miami, Florida. “After we form a stable government, the Likud will submit the necessary, but responsible, legislation and complete the move by March 2023, so that inclusion in the VWP will not be delayed even one day,” Likud asserted. The bill is believed to largely be a template of the legislation passed in the 40 other countries that have joined the US VWP.
Likud in its statement took issue with the legislation being advanced, claiming it violates the privacy rights of Israelis. If Israel waits until after the November election, there may not be enough time to complete all of these steps, particularly given the real possibility that parties will subsequently fail to form a government, further extending the ongoing political deadlock. While there is no clear deadline for when the three pieces of legislation must be passed, the bills must be implemented for a period of time before Israel joins the VWP, computer systems must be put in place and the US ambassador must submit a formal request for the country to be added to the program. If it is below three percent, as the embassy hopes, Israel will be able to join the VWP, as long as it meets the other criteria. Toward the end of the year, US authorities will receive the visa rejection rate from the previous fiscal year, which ends in late September.
Likud then issued a statement responding to the report, insisting that US law doesn’t allow for Israel’s entry into the VWP for another year anyway, suggesting that there is no real reason for urgency. Hours after Nides’ tweet, Channel 12 published an unsourced report claiming that the ambassador had recently met Netanyahu and sought to pressure the Likud leader to back the legislation amid fears that the effort will be delayed by an entire year if the laws aren’t advanced before the November 1 Israeli election.
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