Former U.S. Rep. Cori Bush says she found out her Israeli entry authorization had been revoked while standing at a security checkpoint, just days after she registered with the federal government as a paid foreign agent organizing trips to the West Bank. The Missouri Democrat and former member of the Squad says a Transportation Security Administration agent delivered the news as she prepared to board a flight bound for Tel Aviv.
Bush said the cancellation happened at a TSA checkpoint while she was en route to Tel Aviv, according to JNS. The outlet reported that a TSA agent told her directly that her entry visa to Israel had been revoked. Israeli officials have not publicly commented on the specifics of her case, and the reporting reviewed does not include an official Israeli explanation for the decision.
Bush has attributed the move to her criticism of Israeli policy and of U.S. support for Israel, according to The Free Beacon, which reported that she pointed to her criticism of Israel and her work in the West Bank as the reason. She also posted about the episode on social media, writing, “They revoked my visa? Not the ‘only’ democracy in the Middle East? It’s still free Palestine from wherever I am,” as reported by VINnews.
A Foreign Agent Registration Tied to West Bank Trips
The timing has drawn attention because Bush recently filed paperwork under the Foreign Agents Registration Act to run what was described as educational fact-finding missions to the West Bank for the International Federation for Rights and Development, with that registration following an October trip, per the same JNS report. JNS has said it remains unclear whether Bush had the correct visa for the work she is now doing with the nonprofit, and the available reporting does not resolve the question of exactly how the October trip and the FARA filing lined up chronologically.
An October 26 memorandum filed with the Justice Department budgeted Bush to receive $6,000 monthly for three months, with separate allocations for FARA registration and compliance reporting bringing the reported total to $25,000, the station's report notes. The Free Beacon offered its own accounting of the arrangement, reporting that the nonprofit would pay Bush and her former House campaign manager $25,000 through January for coordinating West Bank delegations. Bush's assigned work reportedly includes contacting at least 200 people, primarily current and former members of Congress, in November and December, coordinating visits and providing briefings, per the same account.
Bush has said she traveled to the area to stand with Palestinians she described as being attacked by settlers, according to the JNS report. The former congresswoman, who represented a St. Louis-area district, lost Missouri's 2024 Democratic primary to Wesley Bell and lost again in 2026, VINnews reported. Bush filed paperwork under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Part of a Broader Pattern of Entry Denials
Bush's account arrives against a backdrop of rising entry restrictions that Israeli lawyers say have intensified over the past year. Entry denials for American and other international travelers have risen sharply, including in cases tied to suspected anti-Israel views or plans to visit the occupied West Bank, according to lawyers cited by NPR. Israel's Interior Ministry told NPR it had denied more than 21,000 requests for electronic travel authorization since 2025, while maintaining it was unaware of claims of a broader entry-ban phenomenon and insisting all travelers face the same rules.
The U.S. State Department, for its part, has described such entry denials as consistent with the uniform application of Israeli law, per NPR's reporting. NPR also reported that in August, Israel denied entry to a group of international comedians invited to a Palestinian comedy festival and to a U.S. multifaith delegation planning a West Bank and Jerusalem tour. NPR cited lawyers who said entry denials included cases tied to suspected anti-Israel views or plans to visit the occupied West Bank.
Shomrim also documented the case of Leila Stillman-Utterback, an 18-year-old American Jewish volunteer who was detained and deported after joining a solidarity harvest, a case that ended with her deportation and a 10-year ban on entering the country, according to the outlet. Whether Bush's situation fits that broader pattern or stems from separate questions about her visa status remains unresolved, and Israeli officials have not addressed her case specifically.
