Saudi Arabien vägrar ge visum till Jerusalem Post redaktör

President Obama skall besöka Saudi Arabien och en grupp journalister skall som vanligt följa med honom. Men Saudi Arabien vägrar ge visum till Michael Wilner som är amerikansk jude och arbetar som korrespondent för Jerusalem Post i Washington.
Reaktionerna i USA är upprörda men det verkar inte påverka Saudi Arabien.

White House press corps 'outraged' at Saudi visa denial for 'Post' correspondent (Jerusalem Post)
 Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor:
“It certainly should not be the case that the affiliation of a journalist should in any way count against their ability to do their job, just because they work for The Jerusalem Post,” Rhodes,said, adding that the White House is "very disappointed by the Saudi decision."
Just before Rhodes' made the comments, the White House Correspondents' Association also issued a statement denouncing the Kingdom's decision.
"It is outrageous that the Saudi government has refused to allow a White House reporter entry to the country to cover this week's visit of President Barack Obama," the White House press corps said in a statement, in a display of solidarity with Wilner.
"The denial is an affront not only to this journalist, but to the entire White House press corps and to the principle of freedom of the press that we hold so dear," the statement added."


Saudi shame (Jerusalem Post ledare)

"...This week it emerged that Riyadh denied a visa to Michael Wilner, the Post’s Washington bureau chief. The White House had invited Wilner, a US citizen, to cover US President Barack Obama’s whirlwind trip to Saudi Arabia.

But after holding his US passport for two weeks, the Saudis rejected Wilner’s request. They did this despite personal pleas from National Security Adviser Susan Rice and special assistant to the president Tony Blinken to Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the US, Abdel bin Ahmed al-Jubeir.

Wilner remains the only journalist who has been denied permission to go to Saudi Arabia to cover Obama’s visit.

As Wilner noted: “I am an American journalist covering the travel of an American president. We consider it unfortunate that Saudi Arabia would deny any legitimate reporter the ability to complete that work – much less one properly credentialed, in the White House press corps, expressly invited on the trip. We have little doubt that my access was denied either because of my media affiliation or because of my religion. That is a grave disappointment and a lost opportunity for the kingdom...”