text: "You may have been alerted to this incident: the barring of Noam Chomsky from Israel. His political views may beridiculous or objectionable though he is the greatest linguistic scholar in the world but barring him for his political opinionshas created a needless PR disaster not least for the US as he is after all a US citizen and a very prominent oneinternationally. It is unfortunate on every level. And the US should not be a passive onlooker. He is a US citizen barred forhis political views after all. This story is splashed across the European press this morning. Not what anyone needs yesyes like a hole in the head and bone stupid but the US effort on his behalf to gain entry should be part of the story. Thisincident can be profitable if Israel understands it should not be doing this to US or European critics in the future. This is adownward slope bad news for everyone involved. S14 16 2010 11:01 pmChomsky Barred From West Bank by IsraelBy ROBERT MACKEYNoam Chomsky an American linguist and political thinker who has been critical of Israel was denied entry into the WestBank on Sunday by Israeli immigration officials when he tried to cross into the Palestinian territory from Jordan to deliver alecture.Amira Hass of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported:No reason was initially given for the decision but the Interior Ministry later said immigration officials at the Allenby Bridgeborder crossing from Jordan had misunderstood Chomsky's intentions thinking initially he was also due to visit Israel.Chomsky who is on a speaking tour in the region was scheduled to speak at Bir Zeit University in the West Bank onMonday.A spokeswoman for Israel's interior ministry also told Reuters that there had been a misunderstanding and ""officials weretrying to get clearance from the Israeli military which controls access to the West Bank to allow Chomsky to enter.""In a television interview from Amman Jordan after he was rebuffed Mr. Chomsky told Al Jazeera English ""the facts werecompletely clear to everyone; there was no basis for a misunderstanding."" He explained that he was interrogated forseveral hours before being told that he would not be allowed to cross into the occupied Palestinian territory. The 81-year-old scholar added:I can only say what was conveyed to me in the discussion with the official who was carrying out the interrogation — hewas receiving instructions from the [Israeli] ministry of interior and relaying them. There were two basic points. One wasthat the government of Israel does not like the kinds of things I say — which puts them into the category of I supposeevery other government in the world. The second was that they seemed upset about the fact that I was just taking aninvitation from Bir Zeit and I had no plans to go on to speak in Israeli universities as I have done many times in the pastbut not this time.Mr. Chomsky had been invited to speak about American foreign and domestic policy by the philosophy department at thePalestinian university in Ramallah.The renowned linguist was outspoken in his opposition to the Israeli offensive in Gaza which ended in January 2009 andhas criticized Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory many times.In an interview with Deborah Solomon of The New York Times Magazine in 2003 Mr. Chomsky said ""I objected to thefounding of Israel as a Jewish state. I don't think a Jewish or Christian or Islamic state is a proper concept. I would objectto the United States as a Christian state."" When Ms. Solomon pressed Mr. Chomsky on his opposition to Israel saying""Your father was a respected Hebraic scholar and sometimes you sound like a self-hating Jew"" he replied:It is a shame that critics of Israeli policies are seen as either anti-Semites or self-hating Jews. It's grotesque. If an Italiancriticized Italian policies would he be seen as a self-hating Italian?• Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company• Privacy Policy• NYTimes.com 620 Eighth Avenue New York NY 10018"