Wild: PM assured ‘any member of Congress welcome’
Benjamin Netanyahu changed his mind on congresswomen’s visit after Trump tweet
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Days before the Israeli government announced it would not permit two Democratic members of Congress who support the Palestinian-led boycott movement from entering the country, U.S. Rep. Susan Wild heard a different message while meeting with the country’s prime minister.
Wild, a Democratic lawmaker representing the Lehigh Valley, was among a group of congressional lawmakers who met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during an annual trip to Israel paid for by the educational arm of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC.
Two freshman Democrats, Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., weren’t on the trip but were expected to visit Israel and the West Bank soon after as part of a trip organized by a Palestinian-led nonprofit.
The two Muslim lawmakers have been critical of Israel and support the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, which urges companies and consumers to stop doing business in Israel. They also are two of the lawmakers Trump targeted in a tweet
saying they should “go back” where they came from, despite being American citizens.
The group of Democratic lawmakers meeting with Netanyahu during the Aug. 5-11 trip asked him whether their colleagues would be allowed in the country.
“We were assured that they would be,” Wild said Friday. “The exact quote was, ‘Any member of Congress is welcome here.’”
That position changed Thursday, when the Israeli government announced after pressure from President Donald Trump that Omar and Tlaib would not be allowed in the country. Officials later said Tlaib, whose family immigrated from the West Bank, would be allowed to visit her grandmother if she agreed not to promote boycotts during the trip. Tlaib announced Friday she would not be making the trip at all.
Wild said she was “very disappointed” by the Israeli government’s decision, saying that either officials had not told the truth to her delegation or had bowed to pressure from Trump.
“All we heard about last week was their commitment to a peace process, and I don’t think depriving the two first Muslim women ever elected to Congress from coming to Israel is a good way of fostering harmony in that part of the world,” Wild said.
Democratic Rep. Madeleine Dean of Montgomery County, who also went on the AIPAC trip, said in a Facebook post that the decision to bar U.S. lawmakers from the country was “indecent and beneath Israel’s dignity.
“It stands in direct contrast to the democratic values I witnessed last week,” Dean wrote.
Republican Rep. Dan Meuser, whose district includes Schuylkill and Carbon counties, and another participant in the AIPAC trip, said he supported Israel’s position barring Omar and Tlaib from entering the country.
“As a democracy, Israel has the right to prohibit entry to those who pose risks to the country’s well-being through damaging actions such as boycotting,” Meuser said in a statement Friday, describing Tlaib as “playing media-driven political games.”
More than 70 members of Congress attended this year’s AIPAC trip, according to a tally from The Times of Israel. Five Pennsylvanians in attendance: in addition to Wild, Dean, and Meuser were Democratic Rep. Chrissy Houlahan of Chester County, and Republican Rep. Guy Reschenthaler of southwestern Pennsylvania.
Those AIPAC trips have drawn some controversy from those who say the experience offers a one-sided view of a politically complex country.
Wild, who describes herself as a pro-Israel member of Congress and serves on the Foreign Affairs Committee, said the trip was less one-sided than what she expected. In addition to Netanyahu, the group also met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank and also with Benny Gantz, who is running against Netanyahu, she said.
“I really felt like there was a lot of effort to respond to perhaps the past criticisms of it being a one-sided trip,” Wild said.
Much of the trip focused on security and economic issues, Wild said. They visited a spot where the Iron Dome air defense system was launched, and met with Israel Defense Forces as well as with entrepreneurs.
Wild said it was important to her to attend in part to gain a better understanding of the significant sums of money that the U.S. sends to Israel each year, saying she values the relationship between the two countries.