Tlaib refuses offer to visit family, citing ‘oppressive conditions’
Deri: Her hate for Israel overcomes love for her grandmother • Trump: The only real winner here is Tlaib’s grandmother. She doesn’t have to see her now!
WASHINGTON – After a 24-hour saga, Rep. Rashida Tlaib announced Friday that she will not travel to Israel and the West Bank. The congresswoman from the radical wing of the Democratic Party had been allowed to visit by Interior Minister Arye Deri after she sent him a letter asking to visit for humanitarian reasons.
Another congresswoman, Ilhan Omar, was banned from entering Israel on Thursday and did not get permission from Deri since she does not have family living in the Palestinian territories.
“I would like to request admittance to Israel in order to visit my relatives, and specifically my grandmother, who is in her 90s and lives in Beit Ur al-Fouqa,” Tlaib wrote in the letter, which became public on Friday morning. “This could be my last opportunity to see her,” the Congresswoman added. “I will respect any restrictions and will not promote boycotts against Israel during my visit.”
The ministry issued a statement saying that Deri hopes Tlaib would honor her obligation not to promote boycott activity while on her trip, and that the visit would be humanitarian.
Tlaib was expected to visit her family between August 18 and August 24, after an overnight negotiation between the Israeli Embassy in Washington and the Foreign Affairs and Interior ministries.
However, a few hours after Deri’s announcement and after signing a letter promising to “respect any restrictions,” Tlaib changed her mind and tweeted that she won’t visit the West Bank after all, citing “oppressive conditions.”
“When I won, it gave the Palestinian people hope that someone will finally speak the truth about the inhumane conditions,” she tweeted. “I can’t allow the State of Israel to take away that light by humiliating me and use my love for my [family] to bow down to their oppressive and racist policies.”
In response, Deri tweeted: “I approved her request as a gesture of goodwill on a humanitarian basis, but it was just a provocative request, aimed at bashing the State of Israel. Apparently, her hate for Israel overcomes her love for her grandmother.”
US President Donald Trump slammed the Congresswoman and tweeted that “The only real winner here is Tlaib’s grandmother. She doesn’t have to see her now!”
“[She] wrote a letter to Israeli officials desperately wanting to visit her grandmother. Permission was quickly granted, whereupon Tlaib obnoxiously turned the approval down, a complete setup,” Trump added.
Channel 12 reported on Friday night that the original permission to enter the country issued to the two Congresswomen by Israel’s Ambassador in Washington Ron Dermer was announced without consultation with the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Jerusalem. The embassy spokesperson declined to comment on the report.
Israel backtracked on its willingness to let the congresswomen in on Thursday, soon after a tweet from Trump encouraging Israel to deny them entry. Netanyahu said the change in decision was due to a review of their itinerary, which showed the
objective of their visit was to bolster the boycott against Israel and deny the country’s legitimacy. Neither Tlaib nor Omar had scheduled any meetings with Israeli leaders or members of the opposition.
Omar posted a thread on Twitter Friday outlining the schedule for the trip. According to Omar, “I planned to hold meetings with members of the Knesset (both Jewish and Arab) along with Israeli security officials. The claims of the Israeli Prime Minister otherwise are not true. As a delegation, we were also scheduling a meeting with Ambassador David Friedman.”
She added that the delegation was also set to receive a briefing from UN officials about the effect of humanitarian aid cuts on Palestinians, as well as a video conference with youth in the Gaza Strip. Later, she said, the delegation was set to visit Hebron as part of a tour of “Breaking the Silence,” and to visit Bethlehem and east Jerusalem as well.
“We give Israel more than $3 billion in aid every year,” she continued. “This is predicated on their being an important ally in the region and the ‘only democracy’ in the Middle East.
“Denying visits to duly elected Members of Congress is not consistent with being either an ally or a democracy,” Omar added. “We should be leveraging that aid to stop the settlements and ensure full rights for Palestinians.”
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders echoed a similar message. “If Israel doesn’t want members of the United States Congress to visit their country, maybe they can respectfully decline the billions of dollars that we give to Israel,” he tweeted Friday.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi told The Associated Press Saturday that the “weakness of Netanyahu and the weakness of Donald Trump combined” into a policy is “a no.”
In her first interview after the Omar-Tlaib saga, she added: “We have a deep relationship and long-standing relationship with Israel that can withstand Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. We cannot let their weaknesses stand in the way of our ongoing relationship.”
Pelosi said the US commitment to Israel isn’t dependent on either leader. Unlike Omar and Sanders, she did not mention any retaliation, such as a cut in foreign aid. The House speaker told AP that she will not discourage members of Congress from traveling to Israel. “We have a strong relationship with Israel as well as a deep love and respect for the people of Israel. And, again, this is not going to undermine that, try as President Trump will to do that.”
McClatchy reported Friday night that Senior Democratic members of Congress are considering action against Israeli Ambassador to Washington Ron Dermer, and US Ambassador to Jerusalem David Friedman.
According to the report, a group of about a dozen House members are discussing whether to issue a statement of no confidence in Dermer and open an inspectorgeneral’s investigation into Friedman’s conduct. •