Israel’s Justifiable Call
Israel’s decision this week to deny Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib unconditional visiting rights couldn’t have been an easy one. And it’s not cost-free. But it was understandable — and well within Jerusalem’s right to make.
Former Israeli UN Ambassador Michael Oren said Israel faced a “lose-lose” choice — between letting the two congresswomen take their “Boycott the Israeli Occupier” show on the road and refusing their visas and letting the denunciations roll in.
Indeed, criticism followed quickly, from the left, center and right. “No democratic society should fear an open debate,” tweeted Sen. Chuck Schumer.
Against that, Israel had to weigh the fact that Omar and Tlaib are avid Boycott, Divest and Sanction activists. Their itinerary itself was a blatant thumb in the eye to the Israeli government, starting with its description of the pair as a “US Congressional Delegation to Palestine”; neither Israel nor the US recognizes “Palestine.”
They slotted no visits to any undisputed parts of Israel nor meetings with any Israelis who weren’t solid anti-Israel critics.
Their first stop: the American Colony hotel, legendary as the hangout for fierce antiIsrael journalists and foreign delegates. Next: a presentation by UNRWA, another bastion of Israeli-hate. Their goal: nonstop anti-Israel headlines.
And the trip would’ve been funded by
MIFTAH, with its history, notes NGO Monitor, of accusing Israel of “apartheid” and “Judaizing” Jerusalem. Some members have backed the use of terror against Israel.
Finally, President Trump tweeted that the two should be banned.
Jerusalem took his advice: “As a free and vibrant democracy, Israel is open to critics and criticism,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. With one exception: “Israeli law prohibits the entry into Israel of those who call for, and work to impose, boycotts on Israel.” Added Interior Minister Aryeh Deri: “It is inconceivable that Israel would be expected to let into the country those who wish to hurt it.”
Other countries do likewise. In 2012, Team Obama banned an Israeli Knesset member. In 2005, the US blocked Narendra Modi, now India’s prime minister. Britain has banned high-profile figures, from Menachem Begin and Geert Wilders to Mike Tyson, Snoop Dog and Martha Stewart.
And get this: After Bibi’s decision, Tlaib lodged a humanitarian appeal, begging to visit her 90-year-old grandmother in the West Bank. “This could be my last opportunity to see her,” pleaded Tlaib. If allowed in, she agreed “to respect any restrictions” and not “promote boycotts against Israel.”
Yet when Israel called her bluff and OK’d her trip under those terms, she declined. Is there any better proof that her trip was meant as a political stunt?