12 August 22 • 2019
jn

JOSEFIN DOLSTEN JTA
A

fter requesting and getting 
permission from the Israeli 
government to visit her grand-
mother in the West Bank, Rep. Rashida 
Tlaib, D-Mich., decided not to go, 
tweeting, “I have decided that visiting 
my grandmother under these oppres-
sive conditions stands against every-
thing I believe in.”
That tweet came on Aug. 16, a day 
after she and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., 
were denied permission to enter Israel 
days before their planned congressio-
nal mission to the West Bank, despite 
Israel’
s envoy to Washington Ron 
Dermer saying last month that the 
country would not deny entry to any 
member of Congress.
Under Israeli law, BDS supporters 
can be prevented from entering the 
country. The congresswomen are sup-
porters of the Boycott, Divestment and 
Sanctions movement targeting Israel. 
“We won’
t allow those who deny 
our right to exist in this world to enter 
Israel. In principle, this is a very justi-
fied decision,” Israel’
s deputy foreign 
minister Tzipi Hotovely told Israel’
s 
public broadcaster Kan.
The decision was announced after 
President Donald Trump wrote on 
Twitter that Israel “would show great 
weakness” if it let Tlaib and Omar in. 
The president has repeatedly attacked 
Tlaib, a Palestinian-American, and 
Omar, who was born in Somalia, 
at times invoking rhetoric widely 
described as racist.
Omar responded to the news: “The 
irony of the ‘
only democracy’
 in the 
Middle East making such a decision is 
that it is both an insult to democratic 
values and a chilling response to a visit 
by government officials from an allied 
nation.”

RESPONSE FROM MICHIGAN’
S 
DEMOCRATIC DELEGATION
Several Democratic members of 
Michigan’
s congressional delegation 
decried the news. 
“This is a completely misguid-
ed decision that reeks of political 
motivation,” said Rep. Andy Levin. 
“Congresswoman Tlaib, whose family 

lives in the West Bank, and Rep. Omar, 
a member of the House Foreign Affairs 
Committee, deserve to 
be treated with the digni-
ty and respect any other 
member of Congress 
would receive. 
“This decision pulls 
at the seams of our two 
countries’
 important 
relationship and endan-
gers Israel by attempting to politicize 
American support for the country,” he 
continued. “The Israeli government 
should reject the bigoted, wedge-driv-
ing political tactics of President Trump 
and grant Reps. Tlaib and Omar entry 
into the country to do their jobs.”
Rep. Brenda Lawrence said, “Though 
I may not always agree on all matters 
of foreign policy with my colleagues 
Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, I do 
believe that as members of the U.S. 
Congress, they should be allowed to 
visit Democratic nations around the 
world. Barring members 
of Congress from enter-
ing Israel or any other 
country would set a bad 
precedent.”
Earlier this month, 
Rep. Haley Stevens 
participated in the 
bipartisan congressional 
delegation to Israel. “I was grateful 
for the opportunity to participate in 
balanced and thought-provoking edu-
cational seminars, meet with Israeli and 
Palestinian officials, and learn more 
about Israel’
s culture and 
politics,” she said. 
“I agree with those 
who say any member of 
Congress should con-
sider visiting Israel to 
learn more about the 
region. Prime Minister 
Netanyahu’
s decision 
to deny entry to members of the U.S. 
House of Representatives is heartbreak-
ing and discouraging.
“I strongly oppose the BDS move-
ment and all attempts to delegitimize 
Israel’
s right to exist, and I encourage 
all to join me in the chorus to disavow 

these actions,” she added. “I also pray 
that the decision to bar members of 
Congress from visiting Israel will be 
reversed so they can see and experience 
the beautiful, accepting and democratic 
nation I saw firsthand.”

WIDE-RANGING CRITICISM
Pro-Israel groups, including AIPAC, 
objected to the move. 
 AIPAC said that Israel should allow 
sitting members of the U.S. Congress to 
enter the country and see it for them-
selves. “We disagree with Reps. Omar 
and Tlaib’
s support for the anti-Israel 
and anti-peace BDS movement, along 
with Rep. Tlaib’
s calls for a one-state 
solution,” the organization tweeted. 
“We also believe every member of 
Congress should be able to visit and 
experience our democratic ally Israel 
firsthand.”
The American Jewish Committee’
s 
CEO David Harris wrote on Twitter 
that “Israel faced a tough choice,” but 
that it “should’
ve taken the high road 
and let these members of Congress in, 
no matter how vile their views.”
The Anti-Defamation League like-
wise said that “while we absolutely 
disagree with the pro-BDS positions of 
Reps. [Omar and Tlaib], keeping them 
out is counterproductive.”
The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a 
global human rights NGO, also decried 
the move. “Representatives Omar and 
Tlaib are unapologetic anti-Semites 
and supporters of the anti-peace BDS 
movement,” wrote Rabbi Abraham 
Cooper, the center’
s associate dean and 
director of global social action. “The 
congresswomen should have joined 
dozens of their colleagues who recently 
visited Israel and Palestinian territories. 
Still, the first instinct of Israeli officials 
to let them into the country was the 
right one.”
Halie Soifer, executive director of 
the Jewish Democratic Council of 
America, said, “Banning members of 
Congress from visiting Israel, where 
they can see facts on the ground with 
their own eyes, is counterproductive 
and plays into President Trump’
s goal 
of politicizing support for Israel.

“The best way to fight falsehoods 
about Israel is with truth, and the 
best way to refute charges that Israel 
is anti-democratic is to uphold dem-
ocratic principles,” she continued. 
“Moreover, the best way to deepen an 
understanding of the complex dynam-
ics surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian 
conflict is for individuals to visit. These 
are the opportunities Reps. Omar and 
Tlaib’
s trip to Israel would provide.
“Preventing members of Congress 
from visiting Israel is effectively forcing 
them to boycott. This is unwise and 
counterproductive. Certainly, it is not 
the way to fight the global BDS move-
ment, which we strongly oppose.”

DECISION SUPPORTERS
There were Jewish groups who 
applauded the decision.
The Republican Jewish Coalition 
noted that Israel recently welcomed a 
congressional delegation of 70 lawmak-
ers from both parties. The RJC said 
Netanyahu welcoming that delegation 
shows that this decision “has nothing 
to do with American partisan politics.”
The Zionist Organization of America 
praised the ban in a statement from its 
president, Morton Klein, and chair-
man, Mark Levenson. The pair said 
that the congresswomen “should not be 
given the opportunity to further dele-
gitimize and harm all of us.”
U.S. Ambassador to Israel David 
Friedman wrote on Twitter that he 
supported the decision, saying that the 
lawmakers’
 trip itinerary showed the 
visit “is nothing more than an effort to 
fuel the BDS engine.”
The American Jewish Congress 
tweeted: “Israel made the right call on
@RashidaTlaib & @IlhanMN: It is 
Israel’
s sovereign decision to not allow 
the entry of those who support boy-
cotting the state of Israel … A show 
of political theater would have only 
served to further inflame the already 
sensitive atmosphere.” ■

Associate Editor Jackie Headapohl contributed to 
this report.

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Congressional
Twists and Turns

Netanyahu bars Tlaib, Omar from entering Israel.

FACEBOOK

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Rep. Ilhan Omar
Rep. Rashida Tlaib

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