Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., left, joined at right by Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., listens to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Just in case anyone was still under the impression that the trip to Israel planned by Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib was anything but a political stunt, let me relieve you of that notion.
To recap, Israel announced yesterday that they would be taking a pass on letting Omar and Tlaib prance around the country pushing boycotts and trashing the Jewish state. Seems reasonable to me.
Keep in mind, both Congressional members had the chance to go to Israel with the other 70 members of Congress that just got back. They refused because we all know what their real goal was. Their itinerary included meeting with numerous groups with terrorism ties and planning a dangerous visit to the Temple Mount with Palestinian authority members.
The entire trip was clearly just a propaganda tour to tout the anti-Semitic BDS movement and deny Israel’s right to exist. In fact, just to make that last point clear, they refused to even label their trip as being to Israel, instead asserting they were going to “Palestine,” which does not exist.
Despite the bad faith shown by Omar and Tlaib, Israel did offer to grant the latter a humanitarian waiver to go visit her grandmother in the West Bank.
Initially, Tlaib wrote a letter requesting to enter and promised not to promote BDS while in the country. Her grandmother is 90 and isn’t likely to be around much longer.
That request was granted by Israel with the only condition being that she not promote BDS. Within hours though, Tlaib had changed her mind.
Silencing me & treating me like a criminal is not what she wants for me. It would kill a piece of me. I have decided that visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions stands against everything I believe in–fighting against racism, oppression & injustice. https://t.co/z5t5j3qk4H
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) August 16, 2019
Think about what she’s saying.
Her position is that she values promoting the anti-Semitic BDS movement so much that she’d rather let her grandmother die before visiting her if it means not getting to savage Israel for a few days. Who thinks like this?
This is ego and politics over family to such a degree that it’s pretty stunning to witness.
Imagine hating Israel so much
That you’d skip out on picking figs with your grandma
To avoid taking a three-day break from calling for a global boycott of the world’s only Jewish State
That’s how much @RashidaTlaib hates Israel https://t.co/vM1KRotNLG
— Will Chamberlain 🇺🇸 (@willchamberlain) August 16, 2019
She asked specifically for permission to visit her grandmother, saying she won’t promote boycotts. Then, after Israel said yes, she says she won’t visit if she can’t promote boycotts.
So, it was just a stunt to prolong the news cycle of attacking Israel.
Never mind, grandma. https://t.co/BLqmR8yhkB
— Lahav Harkov (@LahavHarkov) August 16, 2019
The Israelis are rightfully pointing to this as proof they made the right decision yesterday. Rashida Tlaib’s hatred of Israel is so ingrained and pervasive that she’s shunning her own grandmother over it.
From the Israeli interior minister: “I authorized this humanitarian trip, but it turns out that it was a provocation to embarrass Israel. Her hatred for Israel overcomes her love for her grandmother.” https://t.co/gNvQrrNRVN
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) August 16, 2019
You want to know the real reason Tlaib wrote that letter? Because she wanted Israel to say no. That would have allowed her to claim them as being so cruel they wouldn’t even let her visit her dying grandmother. When Israel said yes, that left her scrambling and this was the best she could come up with.
As I wrote yesterday, Israel 100% made the right choice to not let Omar and Tlaib into the country. This latest move by Tlaib only reinforces that. These are not genuine actors. They are propagandists for the Palestinian Authority, a terror regime, and they deserve absolutely no platform to spread their hatred. Israel had no obligation to give them one.
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