At a news conference in St. Paul, Minnesota, Democratic MPs Rashida Taleb and Ilhan Omar strongly criticized Israel for denying them access to Israel to visit the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem. Congress to make the visit that they were unable to make.
Omar, a Somali Muslim lawmaker (and the only woman wearing the headscarf in Congress), the largest city in Minnesota, Minneapolis-Slant Paul, said US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had suppressed their ability to play their supervisory role as deputies. In the US Congress.
Last Thursday, US President Trump discussed with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu preventing the two deputies from entering Israeli territory in what was considered an unusual intervention by a US president with a foreign force to take countermeasures against American citizens, saying that their entry "will show Israel´s weakness, especially as they hate Israel." This is believed by some to have prompted Israel to decide to enter Tulaib and Omar minutes later.
"I encourage my colleagues to visit and meet the people we were going to meet and see the things we were going to see and hear the stories that we would have heard," she told a news conference on Monday afternoon. "We should not leave Trump and Netanyahu open to succeed in hiding." The harsh reality of the occupation about us (American citizens). "
"Washington must stop aid to Israel," Omar said. "Israel´s decision is incompatible with being an ally of the United States and a democratic state."
MP Omar, who has been subjected to intense smear campaigns by the Israeli lobby and right-wing American organizations, also denied allegations that she had not planned to meet Israeli officials during her trip, saying she had planned to meet with Arab Knesset members and representatives of the Breaking the Silence group of former Israeli soldiers who served in the occupied territories. , As well as other officials. Omar said the decision to ban her visit "is no less than an attempt to deprive us of our ability to act as deputies," claiming that while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu´s decision is "unprecedented", it is the policy towards the Palestinians "and people who hold opinions that threaten the occupation." She said members of Congress should be able to see what Israel is doing with billions of dollars in aid, and urged her colleagues to consider cutting back on that aid. Omar said: "Fortunately, we have a constructive role in the United States ...
She said Israel should "stop expanding settlements in the Palestinian territories and ensure the full rights of the Palestinians if we give them assistance." Omar ended by saying that Trump and Netanyahu will not succeed "by concealing the reality of the brutal occupation from us," and added: "The occupation is real, concealing it will not remove it."
Rachida Taleb, an American-born and Palestinian-born, deprived her of her fellow MP Omar, who was organized by the Palestinian non-profit MIFTAH, when she refused an Israeli invitation to visit Beit Awar al-Fawqa, where her elderly grandmother lives. In light of the fact that the impact of such a visit was very negative, especially as the Israeli occupation authorities´ restrictions were harsh and deprived them of even the slightest rights to express their point of view, while the occupation authorities give way out of the impasse that they have fallen upon themselves as a result of the Israeli government´s decision not to allow the two deputies to enter.
She said in an emotional call late on Thursday night, August 15, 2019, she discussed with her grandmother Siti the issue of a personal visit and urged her grandmother not to accept Israel´s humiliating restrictions.
Her grandmother said to her, "You are my big dream, which is manifested - you are the free bird and how do you accept that you are trapped in a cage and you raised our head high when you were elected?"
Five days after the Israeli occupation authorities refused to enter Taleb and Omar, the refusal continues to spark a heated debate on television programs and social media pages. On the legislative level, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, one of the most prominent Jewish-American political leaders and a staunch supporter of Israel, expressed dismay at the Israeli government´s decision to declare via Twitter: "It will only hurt the relationship between the United States and Israel and its support for Israel in America. No democratic society should fear the open debate. Many strong supporters of Israel will be deeply disappointed in this decision, which the Israeli government must reverse."
House Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, who led an AIPAC-sponsored delegation to Israel on August 5, also reacted, accusing the Israeli ambassador in Washington, Ron Dermer, of deceiving the House of Representatives by assuring them in advance that Israel would allow the two deputies to enter its territory.
The Washington Post reported on Monday evening that before his government prevented MPs Rashida Taleb and Ilhan Omar from visiting Israel last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described them as "a counterpoint to the bipartisan strong support for Israel in the US Congress and the United States." ", According to a letter he wrote to the House of Representatives Democrats this summer.
The letter to Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern (Massachusetts) was in response to a number of Democratic lawmakers urging Netanyahu to reconsider a deportation order of Human Rights Watch researcher Omar Shaker (based in occupied East Jerusalem) for his alleged support for the BDS movement. Which has become a turning point between Netanyahu´s right-wing government and supporters of Palestinian rights. "
This has prompted much speculation about whether Trump´s tweets came on an Israeli proposal, and perhaps Trump´s ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, has formulated Trump´s tweet to save Netanyahu from the trouble of letting them in.
