Beirut bars Israeli reporter

An Israeli journalist was excluded from a press delegation accompanying U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to Lebanon. Orly Azoulay of Yediot Achronot managed to get permission to visit Saudi Arabia with Ban for this week’s Arab League summit, but her luck soured when it came to his next port of call: Beirut. Lebanese authorities insisted Thursday that Azoulay be removed from Ban’s entourage. According to a report by Azoulay, Ban tried to get Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to intercede on her behalf, but he refused, citing the fact that Lebanon and Israel are technically at war and that he does not have enough “political credit” to make exceptions. Ban left for Beirut after making sure that Azoulay was on a flight to Europe.