A day after US President Donald Trump tweeted suggesting that Israel refuse to allow two Muslim members of Congress from visiting the country, the Israel has decided to allow Representative Rashida Tlaib to visit her grandmother in the West Bank ‘on humanitarian grounds’.
Representative Ilhan Omar remains barred from visiting the country. The ban was announced hours after Trump tweeted that the two representatives “hated Israel & all Jewish people”.
The office of the Prime Minister of Israel had tweeted earlier on the reasons for barring the two congress members from visiting, primary of which was their perceived association with the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Their initial reason for the bar on entry was stated as, “Israeli law prohibits the entry into Israel of those who call for and work to impose boycotts on Israel, as do other democracies that prohibit the entry of people who seek to harm the country.”
The last tweet on August 15 stated that “if Congresswoman Tlaib submits a humanitarian request to visit her relatives, the minister of interior has announced that he will consider her request on the condition that she pledges not to act to promote boycotts against Israel during her visit.”
Tlaib seems to have done just this, issuing a statement on Congressional letterhead (shared by Haaretz reporter Noa Landau) that she sought to visit her grandmother (who is in her 90s) who lives in the Beit Ur al-Fouqa, adding that this could be her last opportunity to see her. The statement ended saying that she would ‘respect any restrictions’ and ‘will not promote boycotts against Israel’ during the visit.
Earlier, the prime minister’s office had accused the Democrat’s visit of having an itinerary whose “sole objective is to strengthen the boycott against us and deny Israel’s legitimacy.”
On August 15, the Prime Minister’s office announced that entry would be denied to representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. The move was seen by many as being in response to US pressure, particularly from Trump, who tweeted on August that, “It would show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep.Tlaib to visit. They hate Israel & all Jewish people, & there is nothing that can be said or done to change their minds. Minnesota and Michigan will have a hard time putting them back in office. They are a disgrace!”
Omar responded to the bar on her entry, calling it an ‘affront’ but stating that it was ‘not a surprise’ given Israeli prime minister’s Netanyahu’s ties to ‘Islamophobe’ Trump. Tlaib, in turn, has retweeted a tweet showing a news clipping of a similar visa ban, conducted by South Africa under apartheid rule against a black member of Congress.
Both Omar and Tlaib have opposed legislation like the Israel Anti-Boycott that would have allowed states to create laws banning the support of BDS movements. Last month, the House of Congress voted overwhelmingly to condemn the BDS movement.
