For the first time, a delegation with the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center was denied entry to Israel earlier this month.

Sabeel, a registered nonprofit based in East Jerusalem, has nearly 40 years of history in the region. In the past three years, the group has welcomed more than 450 people in delegations and pilgrimages to the Holy Land. These trips are “learning experiences” for everyone involved, said Omar Haramy, director of Sabeel. They are inspired by the Bible’s repeated instructions to “come and see,” and “go and tell,” he said.

The delegation of 13 travelers, all American citizens, was coordinated by Rev. Ed Phillips and Rev. Sara Webb Phillips, married United Methodist ministers from Atlanta, Ga. On Aug. 13, the group was entering Israel—nine delegates had been admitted into the country when border agents suddenly ordered them to re-enter the processing area, then detained the whole group in a holding room in the terminal at Sheikh Hussein Bridge.

As they sat, morning turned to evening. Several guards approached the couple, accusing them of lying about the purpose of their trip.

Ed said a guard told him that, “You’re here to tell the story of what we’re doing to the Palestinians.” He said the guard also accused him of lying about their purpose in Israel, telling them “shame on you. You’re Getting exactly what you deserve.”

“And then she turned around a stormed off,” Ed said.

The delegation the Phillips assembled included Christians, Muslims, Jews, and Hindus. They planned to visit Jerusalem, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Holocaust museum; Yad Vashem; along with Hebron, Bethlehem, and Taybeh in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli settlers recently attacked Palestinian residents and set fire to homes, workplaces, farmland, and last year, the historic Church of St. George.

Purpose of the trip

Besides visiting holy sites, delegations meet locals and learn about their experiences.

“We never claim that we have one voice or one story,” Haramy said.

People of all backgrounds and faiths participate in discussions, and Haramy said they emphasize hearing stories from a diverse group of those who live in the region. Whether their stories are similar or not, sharing is “very helpful for all of us, who’ve been in so much violence,” he said.

Haramy added that a Sabeel group was the first of its kind to visit survivors of Hamas’s October 7 attacks.

At Sheikh Hussein Bridge, the Phillipses’ delegation waited for around six hours to cross. Nine people were initially given visas and admitted into Israel. The remaining four—three of them people of color—faced increasingly prolonged questioning from border guards, who expressed disbelief that people as diverse in age and race would know each other, let alone be friends.

“How can that be?” Ed Phillips recalled being asked. “You all look different.”

Sara Webb Phillips, who was also denied entry, described repeated questioning about Sabeel. She told a guard that she and her husband had organized the trip and had traveled with Sabeel previously.

“[The guard] said, ‘Sabeel is a terrorist organization,’” Sara recalled. “And I said, ‘No, it is not.’”

Some time later, guards ordered the nine delegates waiting in the “Welcome to Israel” area to re-enter the terminal and took their visas away. In a holding room, the delegation was informed that they had been denied entry. Guards confiscated their passports, and the group contacted human rights lawyer and Sabeel co-founder Jonathan Kuttab, as well as the U.S. Embassy. Ed Phillips said he saw a border agent attempt to wrench the cellphone of a woman from the delegation while she spoke with the Embassy.

Travelers received forms entitled “Decision concerning denial of entry according to the Entry Into Israel Law 5712-1952.” The form cited two reasons for denial: “Public security or public safety or public order considerations,” and “Prevention of illegal immigration considerations.”

Jacques Delli Paoli, one of the delegates, said Sabeel advised them to “be open and honest” in all communication with agents. Paoli, who has worked in international humanitarian aid, was traveling from Maine and looked forward to visiting holy sites for the first time. “I was coming as a tourist to learn.”

“We believe in transparency and in honesty,” said Haramy. “What we do is not unethical.”

Ordered to leave

Before the forms were signed, travelers said the border agents’ mood shifted, and armed guards abruptly ordered them to leave. While guards shoved them toward a bus on the Jordanian side, Sara Webb Phillips said she only agreed to let anyone board once they had their passports in hand.

Haramy said the border guards refused to cooperate with the U.S. Embassy and lied to an Israeli judge, claiming that none of the delegates had yet entered Israel when nine of them had. The detainment was a departure from standard border procedures, he said, under which travelers with an ETA-IL travel approval (which all 13 delegates had) are interviewed and then either receive a visa or are denied. “You don’t bring somebody back after you let them in,” said Kuttab.

Granting an individual a visa then taking it away with their passport, after they have cleared immigration and customs officials, amounts to “pretend[ing] that they never entered, that they were denied entry.” Kuttab also said that a traveler should only be turned away if there are legitimate security concerns specific to that individual—rejecting a whole group even if one person is inadmissible would be “very disturbing.”

“One of the reasons why we said ‘come and see,’ [was] because people didn’t believe us.”—Omar Haramy, director of Sabeel

Friends of Sabeel North America, an independent affiliated group headed by Kuttab, has called for the U.S. to investigate whether the incident violates Israel’s commitments as a member of the U.S.’s Visa Waiver Program. Under that agreement, U.S. citizens traveling for tourism or business can reciprocally “expected to be approved” for visa-free entry to Israel for up to 90 days.

Neither the Israel Population and Immigration Authority nor members of Congress representing the delegates responded to requests for comment by time of publication.

Last week, Kuttab filed an administrative petition on the group’s behalf, asking an Israeli court to have the denial of entry revoked.

Increased scrutiny

Over the past year, Israel has increased deportations and revoked travel authorizations for foreigners, particularly activists intending to provide a peaceful, protective presence for Palestinians threatened by settlers. To Haramy, it’s further proof that Israel is “hiding something,” relating to its treatment of Palestinians. Journalists, activists, faith leaders, people of conscience, and tourists alike are denied entry “because [Israel] is afraid that they will see something that will expose the crimes.”

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists’ latest estimate, Israel has killed 259 journalists since Oct. 7. A UN report from July predicted that if present trends continue, the West Bank is on trajectory to see over 2,000 settler attacks on Palestinians by the end of the year.

Haramy said when people of color voice suffering, they are always met with suspicion. The condition of Palestinians is well documented and should already be evident to outsiders.

“One of the reasons why we said ‘come and see,’ [was] because people didn’t believe us,” Haramy explained. Kuttab said that Israel has long presented itself as a liberal democracy and a responsible custodian of holy places, but that now, “they don’t seem to care.”

“What do you do when somebody drops the pretext and says, ‘Yeah, it’s genocide. So what?’… I don’t know where that leaves me.”

Haramy noted that for most Palestinians, to even have the option of attempting to visit Jerusalem on holy days is a privilege. Last Easter, Israel blocked access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built where Jesus was resurrected, leading to international outcry.

Despite being denied entry, “I know that every single person on this delegation now has a story to tell,” Ed Phillips said, “in support of the Palestinian people, in support of those who are trying to get the messages out about the occupation.”

When guards accused the Phillipses of wanting to tell the world about Palestinian suffering, another delegate, Victoria Ross, sat nearby. “For them to say that, and for that to be a problem,” she said, “says a world about what they are doing.”