As ones sows, so shall he reap.

When the Israeli government denies other countries' althletes from entry into Israel, often citing security reasons of a dubious nature, the world does not cry foul. When the UAE or another country denies an Isreali athlete entry, the whole world bemoans it. We have a saying in Canada -what is good for the goose is good for the gander. Israeli athletes should get used to it.

Are you kidding me. The slander campaign against Dubai has already started. It is an issue of freedom of press now or apparent lack thereof in Dubai.

What is even more bizzare is that this story is front page news on cnn.com for 2 days already. People are lossing their jobs, houses, dying across the world and it is unbelievable that this story gets this kind of coverage.

please respect the sovereignty of the UAE.there is a rule in journalism that many reporters forget. the rule is to stay neutral at all time. MR. Pedro Pinto i have watched you on the TV and all you do is criticize the UAE and in this blog what are you doing!! are you sent by CNN to ruin and lie about the image of the UAE. the UAE provides journalists and civilians more rights that any country in the region. you are complaining because some government officials had a recession and a financial crisis to deal with. you know you should have tried covering the Israeli assault on Gaza, i'm sure they would have let you to enter Gaza and cover the news their as free as you want. sir people do not read your blogs to hear you criticise the UAE. think about the audience that are viewing you. did you know CNN is quite famous in the middle east. you are repelling people from CNN. so reconsider posting such a un neutral bias blog.

Nam,
What would be South Korea's response if North Korea daily fired mortar shells and rockets into South Korea?

People who support a government/military involved in GENOCIDE deserve to be banned from any games..

this is horrible, discrimination against the most civilized race in the world. israel is the best country in this world!

I think sports and politics.I think feeling.What is good?

It's surprising how fast CNN provided a blog link to this news. Why was South African cricket team banned from playing international cricket for so long? Political reasons effected sports in that case as well. Though unfortunate event BUT this news is not worth becoming a headline on CNN front page.

Well according to Nam maybe all western countries should ban entry of any muslim athlete into their country.

Perhaps this is the only way Dubai can say that they don't agree with the things Israel has done to the Arab World. This won't stop professional policy. One tennis player from Israel. Give me a break. What about all the students in the West Bank and Gaza who can't get out to attend universities out of their area?

Dubai is a liberal state so it is surprising to see why it will take such an action. The only reasoning comes to mind is that Israel has crossed all limits with its atrocities resulting in little or no support from even the most liberal ones out there. Isreal should be ashamed of its actions!!!

The UAE is a 'police state', don't you guys know that by now?! The sheiks decide 'who lives, and who dies'...The West should stop pampering the UAE.

Well, the honeymoon with the quasi-modernistic Arab enclave(s) needs to be re-evaluated. The UAE unilaterally took its decision with no regard for the organizers/sponsors of this global event.

I said it yesterday – my planned family holiday to Dubai this summer is hereby cancelled!

It shows the world what a bunch of anti-semites the UAE are.
They should be banned from the next Olympics to show them what it feels like.

Spineless Sports Officials – Just Cancel the Tournament -

Having read the page where your writing has been posted on the current event seemingly will continue to occupy the agenda in the coming days, though I wasn't much concerned about it as the local local media coverage you mentioned, I can briefly say as one of your colleagues you've made a good observatin on this news so far,

Israeli teenager: Mommy, Mommy, I can't paly tennis because they won't give me a visa....
Palestinian teeanger: Mommy, Mommy, I can't play tennis because the IDF blew my legs off....

sorry to see a player to work so hard to play in these turnament and be denied visa by people who probably have never tuched a teniss ball and probably don't know how much work is invoved.
safety of the player should always be the prime interest of the officials

After the events last month, this girls life will be in serious jeopardy if she sets foot in any Muslim majority country, no matter how liberal and moderate. Shall the Dubai authorities deny her a VISA or shall they ruin the whole tournament by bogging it down with military level security as well causing massive demonstrations and social unrest around the games?

Alex, you are ignorant. let's leave it at that. have you ever been to Israel? i hear no suggestion as to how Israel should deal with 8 years of rockets into their backyard. it is not about land. the extreme palestinian arabs want to kill jews, destroy Israel, and then the West is next. maybe a commuter train in your suburb. better yet: stay at home picking your nose thinking you understand the situation.

"As a journalist working in Europe and the United States, I have taken freedom of press for granted. "

Umm...Btw the recent massacre of over 700 hundred innocent Palestinian women and children by the Israeli army was did not make the headlines in the United States. So i'd think twice before talking about freedom of press.

The author writes "I was surprised to see how little the local media covered it, and how challenging it was to get anyone in the UAE to comment on the news."

This is because tennis is a non issue in the Gulf and nobody except for a few expats like the author watch it. Maybe the author should start to write about more pressing issues in the world to be acknowledged rather than some teen tennis player who wasn't granted a visa.

"Boo hooo. How traumatic."

On the other hand, it also seems strange that CNN should carry this as their lead story for most of yesterday.

When Israel kiiled million of innocent people, western countries did not make any comments or did not take any stand. When visa is denied to this girl, it becomes a headline on CNN and becomes an international issue.

We need to set our priorities right else this world will never be a safe place.

The Jew shouldn't be allowed to set foot in Dubai to show the world that we are not happy with the actions of these Jews in Palestine right now.

Lol.. Alex..u summed it up...Mommy Mommy

Anyways ,CNN is biased in its approach.Has proved it time and again.By the way who cares,even if WTA cancels future events in UAE,Dubai will be least bothered,because they have got enough money.I think its better for US/Israel to organize such events in their own countries as they are facing financial crisis... lol.

All countries should ban Israeli players and trade.

Alex February 17th, 2009 325 GMT

Israeli teenager: Mommy, Mommy, I can’t paly tennis because they won’t give me a visa….
Palestinian teeanger: Mommy, Mommy, I can’t play tennis because the IDF blew my legs off….

No Alex, you forgot the palestinian SUICIDE MURDERER (a/k/a SHAHID)

I believe that Dubai should be sanctioned until it and Saudi Arabia eliminate their racist practice of banning Jews entry into their countries.
Why cant these countries get it?
Israel is here to stay.
Stop the Arab boycott. Give peace a chance (that's right John Lennon–all we are saying is give peace a chance)

That's 'peace, not hamas, not shahid not allahu akbar and blow up the towers with planes.
Peace.

just give the woman her visa, Prince Mohammed.

I am disgusted by the comments in response to your article. A young Israeli woman is being blamed for her country? That means all Iranians, Americans, English, Australian and Spanish players should be banned from multiple tournaments because their countries either instigated the Iraq war and Iran says the Holocaust never happened. Most of the top ten men and women wouldn't be able to play tennis.

CNN you are publishing extremely anti-Semitic material - I bet you wouldn't do that if it was racist towards Blacks.

I don't have any problems with Israelis, but I believe the least Arab countries can do is deny one visa to every Israeli for every one Palestinian killed by the Zionist State. The world can not turn a blind eye to the atrocities that have occurred in the past few weeks.

I dont understant how many people still support israel. I ask to them, If I get into ur house and start killing you children n daughters n ur wife or husband, wud u just stand and watch or will you fight back. The palestians are fighting for their lands, its theirs. Israel has no right to invade Palestinian lands. I call upon all Muslims and supporters of humanity to please boycott all Zionist products.Search the internet for the list of products. we cnt go n fight for Palestinian people, this is the lesat we can do

Let us not deceive ourselves people... it has nothing to do with the fact that she is Israeli, but the fact that she is Jewish. Had she been a Muslim Israeli she would have not only been allowed to play, but would have probably been celebrated by the local media.

Anti-Semitism is alive and well in the Middle East, because by blaming the Jews then the local governments can keep the spotlight off their own morally reprehensible treatment of their own people.

Thank you Dubai for showing your true colours.

Banning Jews from sports is nothing new. Check out the Nazi Olympics of 1936. At least Hitler was upfront about it.

The Fulbright foundation refused to award Palestinian students with scholarships they rightfully earned; Israeli Zionist's yet again rear their ugly head. So what did you really expect?

UAE has made the right decision by refusing the visa to this player after what barbarianism been displayed by Israeli authorities in killing Innocent Palestenian people, esp Childern! It is the host country's right to allow/refuse visa to any individual, so wats the fuss?

UAE does not officially recognize Israel and Israeli citizens are not allowed to enter the UAE, so why is it so strange to CNN all of a sudden???????

Yesterday, CNN sport anchor Pinto reported from Dubai saying that Dubaian expats are shocked about this news – expats constitute over 90% of Dubai's population mostly being Muslims, do you really think they are shocked or delighted? I'm from Dubai and can assure you that the majority are delighted about the visa ban.

Come on what's happened to fair journalism?

If we can ban terrorists and other criminals from traveling from one country to another, we must ban Israeli people and goods in our countries, as Israel govt. has committed so many crimes against humanity in Palestine. Correct decision by UAE govt. Otherwise there is no way to tell Israel about the wrong they are doing. If you need freedom of speech, you need to respect the freedom of expression of others too. This is the way UAE govt use their freedom of expression.

me being a resident of dubai feel that freedom of press is very limited over here;

This is a very biest move by the government to not let her play in the tournament.

You should not punish a citizen for its governments actions.

Dubai is a very liberal country and after the events of the past few months, any arab country which accepts an Israeli player will be in serious jeapordy as this may signal many unrests around the arab world.

the decision that the UAE took to ban her is th eright step and I am in Support of the UAE Government.

its nto a good time for players form Israel to be out and bout in the Middle East. She needs to grow up and stop complaining, they value her life, and the security of their country. I thinks that s more important than any tennis game.

read what the Israeli government did to over 1,000 palestinian Arab's then you will understand.

CNN stop forcing this story on us!!!
It's much less important than most stories around the world.
How about a story about the homeless Palestinians trying to survive the winter and the rain?

I think it is a wise decision not to allow the Israeli athlete to compete due to security reasons
Balike(Nig)

Once again it show the paranoia (insecurity) and intolerance of Muslim nations.

Emirates has done the right thing banning Israeli players. What Israel has done with Palestinians and their children, they deserve to be banned from every sport activity and every trade opportunity. This journalist is highlighting the right to play; palestinians are pleading for the right to live and the right to survive.

I am an american contractor here in Kuwait and i know these arab attitudes, and i am sick and tired of these so called arab countries pretending or wanting to be part of world society, but they're nothing but hipocrites. The world includes Isreal, whether thay like it or not, so if they want to be part of the world's community, then they should behave as such, not like the hipocrites that they are.

Also, i am extremely upset with the WTA and especially the players !!
They should have stood by their Isreali tennis member and said, " if she is not allowed in Dubai, then we are all not allowed in Dubai."
But NO, these so called women tennis players only thought about themselves, like thay needed to play there or they will starve. Give me a break, so much for standing up for solidarity. With friends or WTA members like them, who needs enemies.

I guess it's ok for the US and Israel to arbitrarily deny visas/entry to individuals based on religion, ethnicity, nationality or name. Why is it outrageous when an Arab country does it. Just because we are dealing with a sportswoman does not immune her from such a treatment. How many times did the US deny visas for Cuban sportsmen and scientists?

Have enjoyed your reporting on CNN, Mr. Pinto
Too bad you couldn't go on camera with your report. Hope CNN doesn't lose access to its production facilities in Media City as a result of pursuing this story.

To all holdaymakers and sporting personalities concerning Dubai:
Two facts you should be aware of when making your plans.
1) The United Arab Emirates (UAE) of which Dubai is an integral part is a very close uncritical ally of the Sudanese regime indicted for war crimes against the Darfur people of the Darfur region in Southern Sudan.
2) The case for a Dafur Homeland is far far stronger than the case for a Palestinian Homeland.

Smacks of anti-semitism as do the postings on the blog

Dear Mr. Pinto

I wish you had searched CNN site for its blatant lack of reporting of Israel denying entry to UN Human rights envoy Richard Falk http://uk.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUKLF22846._CH_.2420

and also denying entry to Norman Finkelstein http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/986558.html

and not to mention Israel denying entry to Medical and food supplies to Gaza during a war! http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=83151&sectionid=351020202

Also Reports of USA denying entry to Lebanese Sport coach http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/lebanon-coach-denied-entry-to-us-741471.html

etc...

So before you lament mixing of politics and sport; think of what you are doing by reporting this! and What CNN is doing by selectively reporting these incidents

JUST A COMMENT

The UAE does not grant visas to Israelis or anyone who has visited Irael, regardless of whether they are athletes, businessmen etc, the UAE will not make any except to this law.

As a resident of Dubai, i can assure you that any Israeli player is not welcomed. As much as we would like to seperate politics and sports, they will have to interact as they did in Los Angeles olympics. The whole fuss around this topics is silly, a country has the full right to deny a citezen a visa from a country it does recognize to begin with. This PR stunt by media to have Israelis look like a victim after slaughtering 1300 people many of which are children and women is shamefull!!

Dubai should be stripped of all international sporting events for one year due to their actions. Remember UEA was one of the first countries to accecpt the teliban as a for of goverment. Westerners stay away from the UAE

Once we start bickering who can and cannot play in tournaments in different countries, all sorts of ugly scenarios can rear their heads. There should be a total separation of politics and sports, or the hosting countries should not offer their services. I am a sportsman too, and I want to play against the best sportsman in the world. If player A is the best opponent but cannot compete, then I will have to play against opponent B. But if opponent B is not as good as A, then my victory will be hollow, and that is the point of this argument. People like Alex and APV are just hate mongers and it is thinking like theirs that poisons international sports events

a country has a right to admit people it wishes and to keep out those it deems not suitable.

Personally I have had so many mistreatments at entry points in so called free countries when am travelling on proffessional business. I have not bothered to go the the US ever since thy introduces the so called BIOMETRICS!

Clearly, Europe, USA and other countries practice these restrictions. and I am pretty certain that Israel would not let into its borders a Gazan tennis star!

So lets address all injustices equally not just of Israelis that are denied visas to countries with which they dont have diplomatic relations.

This could all be over if Hamas would quit shooting rockets into Israel, if Alex and APV want to tie everything to Palestine, maybe we shouldn't have any more sporting events until terrorist quit killing people they don't like. I think the WTA needs to get a backbone and stop the Dubai tournament today.

yeah well. the whole world is opening their eyes to what Israel is doing to the Palestinians and the Israelis think everyone will just let it go unpunished. what UAE did was only the least that can be done after what the IDF did to their brothers and sisters in Gaza.

I grew up in Apartheid South Africa our sports men and woman could not compete in any international events, our government was wrong and sanctions were justified. So for a new apartheid, there should be new sanctions.

biased manipulated propaganda to brain wash everyone who is dumb enough to believe such lies .. the whole world has freedom of press but the USA .and you fools think you have freedom in your BIASED media. haaaa. they feed you what they think is best for you.. reminds me of cattle

I'm just wanna peace. I'm sorry. david allan....and so on...

Sorry to wake you up, but maybe you already know but don't want people to realize it: Why are only Palestinians or any other muslim deaths mentioned if they are killed by non-muslims? Don't you know that Palestinians and other muslims kill them selves and other muslims much more than anybody else? why is that never a crime?
It is the top of hypocrycy but I know why it is. This way people can be brainwashed into having a ligitimate reason to wage Jihad.
It's about time you all woke up and start putting things into perspective.

As usual Samer, comparing apples and oranges...

BIG difference between Israel not allowing in people that call for its destruction and UN envoys that compare them to the Nazis, with an Arab government that bans a tennis player simply because she is Jewish. She has no political affiliation, and actually tried playing doubles with an Indian Muslim partner.

That was until Arab extremists called for the Indian player's death as the result of her playing tennis with a Jew.

Please, do us all a favour and compare like for like.

Politics are politics, sport is sport.. do not compare the two.

When Saudi TERRORISTS flew into the World Trade Center, there were no sanctions against Saudi Arabia. Saudi's were free to travel, get VISA's and participate in the Olympics.
Can you imagine what would have happened if the USA banned all Saudi's from getting VISA's? Every Muslim would cry foul.

When Pakistan hides Osama Bin Laden, there are no sanctions against the Pakistani people.

UAE needs to separate its disagreement with a foreign government instead of punishing its citizens.

Israeli's are NEVER granted VISA's to enter Saudi Arabia and this is well before Gaza. They weren't granted entry because the Saudi's don't like Jews. They are a bunch of anti-semites, but nobody in the media discusses it because they have the oil.

Since Hamas sends Palestinian suicide bombers to kill innocent Israeli's and children and fires rockets daily into Israel at schools, does that mean that Palestinians are also banned from the UAE?

I think not because there is a double standard!

Thank you Darren for your reply to my comment

Let me see:

- First you conveniently ignored the biased media reporting element of my comment; but hey who cares right?

- Arabs are semites so anti-semitism is an inappropriate term to use here; if you still feel there is such bigotry, please call it anti-zionism not anti judaism as indeed most educated and moderate Arabs are against Zionism and not people of a faith as such

- People comparing Israel to Nazis may actually have point, or is that not worth considering? Even so, that is an opinion and hence Israel by definition is anti freedom of thought if you like

Anyway, you genuinly seem to care about Israel and as such I would highly recommend you focus your energy and drive towards pressuring it to accept international UN resolutions and efforts calling for end of occupation and a fair two states solution which if accepted would eliminate any Visa issues :)

Please pray for all the victimes on both sides of this conflict and have a heart to feel with others and not just be focused on one side to the detriment of the rights of the other. May God help open your and all the other commentators heart and eyes to accept each other and leave in peace and God's grace

Samer: Please call a spade a spade and stop focusing on symantecs. The only thing that you said that has merit is to pray for the victims on both sides.

As for the UN, they are no longer an unbiased international body and thats why no country takes them seriously. If you look at condemnations, they are quick to name Israel but countries like Iran who "stone" their citizens to death rarely if ever get criticized. They are only talking about sanctions against Iran because of their nuclear capabilities, its OK that they publicly stone and behead its citizens (thats an acceptable practice). We can also name Egypt and other countries in Africa who mutilate female genitals/ circumsize their daughters, shouldn't those countries be sanctioned as well?

Before you name one country, you should look around at ts neighbours.

SPADE :)

Actually Jack it is interesting that the UN now is Biased and is not taken seriously by any country! This only applies when the resoultions do not suit you but when the UN enforced a 10 years sanctions on Iraq with no fly zones, it was great. When the resolution to go to the 1st Iraq war was passed, it was great. When second Iraq crisis was brewing it was OK till US realised it does not have (and rightly so)the backing of other UN security council permemnat members to go to war with no real evidence or before full inspections are completed, it became useless ! This is why USA vetos every major resolution against Israel these days? I am so glad it did not do so for 242 and 338, at least for history's sake. Why don't you criticise the US for unilateraly waging war on a war- and sanctions-ravished IRAQ? Also, according to my knowledge, the USA and TEXAS in particular still execute people. I am not sure where you get these stereo typed satanization of Islamic rules (I am yet to know of a public stoning as a real justifiable official ruling in any arab country). Also, most of Dark Africa has old practices such as circumcison and piercings so are they the Devil too? Is circumcision acceptable if the recipient is male but not so if it is female? (I am not condoning female mutilation by the way) I am just trying to show how customs and traditions can be so well embedded in people's lives that it will take a lot of time (if at all possible) to change or eradicate these practices.

Anyway, all of this is irrelevant to the core of this blog and I just hope that all countries will find it in their best interest to resolve matters peacefully and in a civilised manner even if it means accepting (every once in a while) international judgements against it from the I believe still relevant UN and the people of this earth. Taske care JACK and Peace be with you

Amanda Parker wrote: "CNN you are publishing extremely anti-Semitic material — I bet you wouldn’t do that if it was racist towards Blacks."

What a fantastic country is Israel. Anyone who criticizes it is guilty of a crime. Anyone who observes that the IDF butchered hundreds of children in order to secure the re-election of the right wing of Israeli parliament is a criminal.They are guilty of the crime of "anti-semitism".

I wish people who criticized me were made criminals. Then everyone in the world would slowly hate me more and more, until someone recommended wiping me from the face of the earth, and then nobody else objected.

Judaism is a RELIGION. It is posing as a state and a race, but in the end it is just a religion. And it is the most hated religion in the world. Accident? Persecution? Whatever. If you have an opinion, you risk being branded a criminal.

US denied visa to Iran film director: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/oct2002/visa-o01.shtml

US denied visa to Iraqi Doctor: http://uspolitics.about.com/b/2007/04/20/us-britain-deny-visa-to-iraqi-doctor.htm

Back at 1988:

US denied visa to Vietnamese economist: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE3DF1538F93BA35756C0A96E948260

Reason:
"The United States does not have diplomatic relations with Vietnam."

UAE also does not have diplomatic relations with Israel so why Americans think they should grant visa to an Israel citizen when US refused to do the same.