
PR won't be merged because the contributor is an Israeli - oferzelig
https://github.com/armancodes/laravel-download-link/pull/9
======
renewiltord
Can never stand it when a government steps in between two individuals
enriching their shared human experience in a way that harms no one else.

Fuck. That. Shit. May the culture of human independence and individual freedom
win over this authoritarian bullshit.

~~~
winter_blue
_> Can never stand it when a government steps in between two individuals
enriching their shared human experience in a way that harms no one else._

The US does this all the time with its horribly restrictive work visa policy.

Some startup wants to hire a passionate engineer from abroad -- and what
happens? The US govt says you can't.

Paul Graham wrote about it back in December 2014:
[http://paulgraham.com/95.html](http://paulgraham.com/95.html)

The US _hates immigrants so much_ that there was at one point an attempt to
create a floating ship in international waters near the Bay Area (without
being actually in it):
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blueseed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blueseed)

And lastly, the craziness of American xenophobia (especially the puzzling
intense hatred of _skilled immgirants_ no less) can seen in full blast, right
here on HN, any time high-skilled work visas come up -- a lot of people right
here on HN just can't wait force every last software developer (even those
earning $200k) out of the country for the simple crime of them not being born
here. I've conversed with immigrant-haters on HN for a long time[1], like for
years. I've never understood why they hate me and other immigrants so much.
It's puzzling, tbh. It's very tiring and emotionally tiring (when they
effectively repeatedly tell you to "gtfo".) I've given up on engaging with
them directly.

[1] One example where a user named _ones_and_zeros_ essentially tells me to
gtfo:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11313462](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11313462)
(see the parent of that comment as well). And I was in fact actually even
scolded by dang for bringing it up later on:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13599190](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13599190)
dang is right in the sense that _it is indeed_ an extremely emotional topic
for me. These people are trying to (quite literally) destroy my life, and want
to force me out of what's been my home for 10+ years. But I've learned it's
actually best for one's own emotional/mental well-being to not engage with
them.

~~~
koheripbal
This is the weirdest argument I've ever seen on HN.

1\. No nation on Earth allows foreigners to move and work without a visa.
Singling out the US here is completely illogical.

2\. A nation regulating the movement of people into it's borders is a
fundamental function of any government. Not having that would be like removing
passwords from your server and opening it to the internet.

~~~
winter_blue
It seems like you completely missed the point, _or are intentionally being
facetious and trolling here_. (No where did I say anything about doing away
visas. If the US had a less restrictive visa policy, like Canada or other
Western countries, I would have few complaints.)

Most countries, at least most Western countries don't have a hard numerical
limit on high-skilled work visas. (They might have numerical limits/targets on
permanent residents, but rarely on highly-paid, educated, high-skilled
workers.)

The only countries that do (that I'm aware of) are the United States and
Switzerland. _Note: most other countries don 't arbitrary numerical limits on
high-skilled work visas whatsoever_.

Switzerland has a limit of 8,500. This is for one of richest most advanced
economies in the world with a population with 8.5 million. _The visas are
obviously rapidly exhausted._ For example, here is an article from 2017
complaining about it: [https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/worker-visas_cantons-
demand-mor...](https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/worker-visas_cantons-demand-more-
access-to-foreign-employees/43478508)

 _The Swiss high-skilled work visa limit as percent of population is ~0.1%._
Why is the limit so low in Switzerland? _Answer: Xenophobia._

The United States has a limit of 65,000 plus 20,000 for US advanced degree
holders (and an exemption for non-profit research). Also an extremely rich
country with an advanced economy that would (yes) benefit from high-skilled
immigration. People that _graduate from Harvard_ often can't manage to find a
way to stay in the country, because of the US' horribly restrictive
visa/immigration policy. Here's an article _from the Harvard Crimson_ about it
from freaking 2007: [https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2007/4/9/raise-
the-h-1b-c...](https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2007/4/9/raise-the-h-1b-cap-
many-members/)

 _The American high-skilled work visa limit as percent of population is
~0.03%._ Why is the limit so low in the US? _Also, answer: Xenophobia._

The xenophobia is so bad that the Trump administration has been trying
extremely hard to exclude/deport this tiny 0.03% of new highly-paid educated
immigrants. _I was personally affected by this_ , as a previous visa of mine
was denied for bullshit grounds (that courts have ruled in individual cases as
being facetious and motivated by anti-immigrant animus). People with $200k+
salaries are being denied on joke grounds and told to depart the US. _The
United States is so xenophobic that it cannot tolerate adding 0.03% of highly-
skilled well-paid educated people per year to its population._

------
phonon
Possibly better link:

[https://blog.yiddishe-kop.com/posts/my-pr-was-denied-by-
iran...](https://blog.yiddishe-kop.com/posts/my-pr-was-denied-by-iranian-law)

------
yuriko
Title is misleading

~~~
colourgarden
Maybe, maybe not.

My immediate reaction was that I was about to read some scandalous anti-
semitism (as I'm sure you did too). The truth is a little more bureaucratic
with no malice or discrimination from either contributor (I won't comment on
the law itself!).

The title is a little click-baity but I'm not sure how it could be more
accurate?

~~~
quenix
How about “Maintainer forced to reject PR due to Israel-Iran conflict”?

------
runawaybottle
How close is American/China from this level of restriction?

~~~
SpicyLemonZest
Extremely far. It'd be extraordinarily costly - imagine _every_ Chinese
national SWE having to leave American companies - and in the US probably
unlawful to impose.

~~~
coolspot
US somehow managed to lawfully (at the time) send all Japanese-American to
detention camps, though.

~~~
sudosysgen
Concentration camps.

------
aronpye
Isn’t that a breach of US anti-boycott law, that Github as a US based company
has to enforce?

~~~
notsureaboutpg
In the US a blanket anti-boycott law would be unconstitutional to enforce.
Government contractors in some states (maybe federally) are subject to anti-
BDS restrictions, but to my knowledge GitHub isn't one.

Also, GitHub as an organization is not boycotting Israel, one of the users of
its site is. The law / requirement is to state that _you_ (i.e. the gov't
contractor in question) will not boycott Israel. But it doesn't say anything
about your customers also abiding by that provision.

~~~
aronpye
[https://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/enforcement/oac](https://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/enforcement/oac)

Who Is Covered by the Laws?

The antiboycott provisions of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR)
apply to the activities of U.S. persons in the interstate or foreign commerce
of the United States. The term "U.S. person" includes all individuals,
corporations and unincorporated associations resident in the United States.

Conduct that may be penalized under the TRA and/or prohibited under the EAR
includes:

Agreements to refuse or actual refusal to do business with or in Israel or
with blacklisted companies. Agreements to discriminate or actual
discrimination against other persons based on race, religion, sex, national
origin or nationality.

—-

I would say that discrimination clearly applies in this case, and individuals
do have a responsibility under the EAR.

~~~
rswail
The person "discriminating" is the person that rejected the PR, which they did
being subject to the laws of Iran.

Github neither agreed to refuse, actually refused, agreed to discriminate, or
actually discriminated against the person proposing the PR.

Github aren't responsible for some code of conduct regarding whether or not a
repo owner will accept unsolicted (or solicited) PRs.

In fact, Github is directly engaged in blocking users from NK, Syria and Iran
under the US law. They have to, it's the law that has jurisdiction over
Github.

[https://techcrunch.com/2019/07/29/github-ban-sanctioned-
coun...](https://techcrunch.com/2019/07/29/github-ban-sanctioned-countries/)

