Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) attend a news conference on March 13, 2019, in Washington, DC. They planned to go to Israel next week. | Mark Wilson/Getty ImagesPresident Donald Trump urged the prime minister to stop the two Muslim members of Congress from visiting.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is all but certain to block two Muslim Democratic members of Congress — both of whom are prominent women of color and highly critical of his country — from visiting Israel next week.
If he follows through, as is expected, it could further rupture the relationship between Democrats and the Jewish state, but potentially strengthen his bond with President Donald Trump.
Multiple reports say that Netanyahu will announce Thursday that he is denying entry to Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), impeding them from attending a private trip organized by a Palestinian-led nonprofit to see Israel and the West Bank, where Tlaib has family.
They’d also planned to visit the cities of Bethlehem, Hebron, Ramallah, and Jerusalem, and to join members of the Palestinian Authority at the Temple Mount (called Haram al-Sharif by Muslims), a major holy site for Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike that has been a religious flashpoint for centuries.
On Thursday, Israel’s Interior Minister Aryeh Deri decided that the country would not allow the two members of Congress in, though the final decision has yet to be reached as other officials must weigh in. A formal press release is expected later on Thursday.
Trump tweeted Thursday morning that he would fully support such a decision.
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 15, 2019
Omar and Tlaib, the first female Muslim members of Congress who Trump said should “go back” to their countries despite being Americans, have been extremely critical of Israel during their first year in Congress. Omar in particular stirred controversy in February with comments attributing pro-Israel sentiment to the financial clout of the pro-Israel lobby.
Netanyahu’s main gripe is that both women support the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. They voted for legislation that would make it US policy to boycott Israel, though the measure was roundly defeated 398-17 in the House.
BDS, a loose movement that dates back to roughly 2005, aims to force Israel to change its approach to the Palestinians through external pressure. BDS activists want companies to stop doing business in Israel, consumers to stop buying Israeli products, and academics and cultural figures to stop collaborating with Israeli colleagues.
The movement’s supporters bill it as the spiritual heirs of the boycotts targeting apartheid South Africa in the 1980s; its opponents bill it as an anti-Semitic campaign aimed at the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state.
But last month, Netanyahu’s government indicated that it would let Omar and Tlaib in: Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer said at the time that Israel wouldn’t deny them a visit “out of respect for the US Congress and the great alliance between Israel and America.”
If Netanyahu announces on Thursday that Omar and Tlaib can’t visit after all, it would prove a major reversal and an insult to one of America’s two major political parties.
It’s unclear what precisely may have changed Netanyahu’s mind — but it’s possible Trump had something do with it.
Why Netanyahu may have changed his mind about Omar and Tlaib visiting Israel
Two things may explain why Netanyahu would make such a controversial decision.
The first is that he’s proud of his relationship with Trump and wouldn’t want to harm that in any way. The president privately told his advisers that he’d like Israel to block the Congress members’ entry into the country, and “Trump’s private views have reached the top level of the Israeli government,” Axios reported last Saturday.
Trump has personally targeted Omar and Tlaib — as well as their other “Squad” members, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) — for their Israel criticism, saying they “hate Israel” and calling them “Anti-Semitic” and “Anti-America” in multiple tweets.
....they are Anti-Semitic, they are Anti-America, we don’t need to know anything about them personally, talk about their policies. I think they are American citizens who are duly elected that are running on an agenda that is disgusting, that the American people will reject......
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 15, 2019
Trump’s stance gives Netanyahu a choice: let in these US Congress members and risk angering Trump, or block them and keep the American president happy while angering Democrats. That’s a fairly easy decision from the prime minister’s point of view.
Trump withdrew the US from the Iran nuclear deal, recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and recognized the Golan Heights as sovereign Israeli territory — all things Netanyahu wanted for a long time. Staying on Trump’s good side, then, may be worth the cost of temporarily angering Democrats.
The second reason is an internal one: Netanyahu has a grueling, contested election coming up on September 17. If he lets Omar and Tlaib into the country, some in his right-wing base may say he’s soft on anti-Israeli sentiment — or worse, that he is somewhat endorsing the Democrats’ views. It’s therefore possible that Netanyahu wants to turn the Omar-Tlaib trip into a political stunt: blocking their entry as a way to look tough and play to his supporters.
Netanyahu can say he has some legal backing for the move: Israel’s parliament passed a law in 2017 that allows the government to deny foreigners entry if they support boycotting the country.
The prime minister may ultimately decide to allow the members of Congress into Israel and the West Bank. But he has some strong incentives to keep them out.
Israel continues to be a flashpoint for Democrats
The Omar-Tlaib issue underscores just what a complication the US-Israel relationship has become for Democrats.
Poll after poll has shown that liberal Democratic primary voters are less sympathetic to Israel than they were in previous years. Likely as a result, most Democratic presidential campaigns for 2020 have bucked tradition and openly expressed their criticisms of the tiny Middle Eastern nation.
It’s why more progressive Democrats running for president, like Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), have spoken more critically of Israel writ large and Netanyahu’s policies in particular. Other more moderate campaigners, like former Vice President Joe Biden and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, have been slightly more steadfast in support of the Israel relationship. None, though, has been quick to back Netanyahu’s leadership.
But the decision to keep out Omar and Tlaib could hurt already strained ties between congressional Democrats and Israel. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), who just came back from a trip sponsored by the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC, is asking Israeli officials to reconsider banning the two members of Congress.
Should Netanyahu follow through on blocking the women, his decision could potentially widen the rift among Democrats on Israel. Leadership would be expected to stand by the two banned representatives, potentially exposing them to criticisms that top Democrats support the BDS movement. But if leadership chooses not to back Omar and Tlaib, the progressive wing would likely revolt against the party’s stewards.
Which means Israel may once again become one of the key foreign policy issues tearing Democrats apart — and potentially exposing a bigger rift between the party and the Jewish state.
Original Article ©Copyrights Vox.com
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