Rep. Rashida Tlaib said on Friday that she will not visit her family in the West Bank due to the conditions required by the Israeli government. The decision follows a reversal by Israel, which first barred the Michigan Congresswoman from the country and later granted her entry on humanitarian grounds.
"Visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions meant to humiliate me would break my grandmother's heart," the freshman Democrat said in a statement. "Silencing me with treatment to make me feel less-than is not what she wants for me – it would kill a piece of me that always stands up against racism and injustice."
Tlaib had submitted a formal request to Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri on Thursday requesting a visit to see family and her aging grandmother who lives outside Ramallah. "This could be my last opportunity to see her," the request letter read.
Deri had approved the request under the condition that Tlaib cease her support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, a formal campaign aimed at curbing international support for Israel over its treatment and policies towards Palestinians. The movement also aims to pressure Israel to comply with international law on issues such as expanding Israeli settlements in Palestianian territories, which has been declared illegal by the United Nations.
Tlaib's request "was just a provocative request, aimed at bashing the State of Israel," Deri said on Twitter. "Apparently her hate for Israel overcomes her love for her grandmother."
The dual reversals come after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government had originally announced that Tlaib and fellow Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota would not be allowed into the country, claiming that the "sole purpose" of their visit is to "increase incitement" against Israel.
Netanyahu's decision followed an extraordinary tweet from President Trump urging Israel to bar the two sitting U.S. Congresswomen. "They hate Israel & all Jewish people, & there is nothing that can be said or done to change their minds," Trump said.
<i>Democratic Representative from Minnesota Ilhan Omar (L) and Democratic Representative from Michigan Rashida Tlaib at an event in March. Photo Credit: EPA-EFE/Shutterstock.</i>
Trump's tweet and the decision to bar the lawmakers from an allied country — one that receives billions of U.S. dollars in aid — rocked the political consciousness in Washington and in Israel.
"As a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, it is my job to conduct oversight of foreign aid," Omar said in a statement. "The irony of the 'only democracy' in the Middle East making such a decision is that it is both an insult to democratic values and a chilling response to a visit by government officials from an allied nation."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that the denial of entry of the Congresswomen "is a sign of weakness, and beneath the dignity of the great State of Israel" — a direct rebuke of Trump's tweet, which said the entry of Omar and Tlaib would "show great weakness."
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee — the powerful pro-Israel lobbying group better known as AIPAC — also said that while it does not support the Congresswomen's "anti-Israel" positions, it does believe that every member of Congress should be able to visit Israel. Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida also said blocking their entry was a mistake.
Yet Washington's ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, said in a statement that the U.S. supported Israel's earlier decision to deny entry. "This trip, pure and simple, is nothing more than an effort to fuel the BDS engine that Congresswomen Tlaib and Omar so vigorously support," Friedman said in a statement.
Tlaib and Omar — the first two Muslim American women ever to be elected to Congress — have been vocal supporters of the BDS movement. In July, the Congresswomen and just a handful of other lawmakers voted against a resolution to formally condemn the BDS campaign. The bill passed overwhelmingly with 398 votes in favor and 17 against.
In a tweet on Friday, the BDS movement said that "Palestinians do not bow to oppressor's diktats" and that the attempt by Israel's "far-right regime" to humiliate Tlaib had failed.
"I cannot allow the Israeli government to take that away from them or to use my deep desire to see my grandmother, potentially for the last time, as a political bargaining chip," Tlaib added in her statement.
President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin started their heavily scrutinized one-on-one meeting in Helsinki, Finland, on Monday. "[Putin] has been in power for a very long time, almost 20 years now, he is a former KGB officer, and he's not interested in playing nice," says Natalia Antonova, former editor of The Moscow News. The meeting comes just days after the U.S. Justice Department indicted 12 Russian military officers for trying to influence the 2016 presidential election. Before the meeting, Trump described the federal investigation as a "Rigged Witch Hunt!"
While the Trump baby blimp flew over London, tempers flared on the streets. Many of the same passions that help fuel Donald Trump's popularity in the U.S. are very much alive and well in the UK.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller's move Friday was the first time the probe has targeted the Russian government. The Russian-orchestrated conspiracy didn't, however, influence vote counts, says Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
The president denied that he criticized British Prime Minister Theresa May's handling of Brexit in an interview with The Sun newspaper, calling it "fake news." His comments come just a day after The Sun posted its recorded interview online. Trump and May held a joint press conference on Friday where they both confirmed that the UK and the U.S. would strike up a special trade deal after Brexit.
These are the headlines you Need2Know:
*President Trump is in England preparing for a joint news conference with Theresa May. While the duo dined last night, The Sun newspaper published a sit-down interview with the president where he criticized May’s handling of Brexit. Trump warned trade deals with England could be nixed if Brexit isn’t handled properly.
*FBI agent Peter Strzok was removed from working on the Hillary Clinton email probe and the Trump-Russia investigation after text messages were discovered in which he criticized the president.
*Stormy Daniels made an encore appearance at the same strip club she was arrested at the night prior.
*A Kansas City water park will not reopen after a 10-year-old boy died on a water slide.
*Serena Williams beat Julia Görges of Germany yesterday to reach her 10th Wimbledon final.
Cheddar Big News's Jill Wagner gives us the details.
President Trump, on his last day at the NATO summit in Brussels, declared that other members of the alliance had agreed to increase defense spending. Minutes later, however, French president Emmanuel Macron disputed those claims, saying that all members had committed to the previous spending target. Trump is now in London for his first visit to the British capital since winning the White House.
These are the headlines you Need2Know:
* Confusion at the NATO summit after President Trump said allies will add billions of dollars to defense spending. But French president Emmanuel Macron rebuffed those claims.
* Stormy Daniels was arrested after an alleged misdemeanor at a Columbus, Ohio, strip club. Her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, has also been working to reunite families at the southern border.
* The U.S. Senate voted yesterday on a non-binding resolution giving it a say on what tariffs are levied and against whom.
* New evidence prompted the Department of Justice reopened the case of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old boy who was killed in 1955 in Money, Miss.
* John Schnatter, founder and former CEO of Papa John’s, has resigned his chairman role after a racially-charged comment on a conference call.
* Americans made it to both the men’s and women’s Wimbledon semifinals, the first time since 2009.
Cheddar Big News' Jill Wagner tells us the latest.
President Donald Trump's aggressive stance at the two-day NATO summit in Brussels, on top of his antagonizing trade policies, have "brought the transatlantic alliance to the lowest point,” says Joshua Meltzer, senior fellow of global economy and development at the Brookings Institute.
Stocks dipped today after the White House threatened to impose a new set of tariffs on China on $200 billion worth of goods. However, Kate Warne, investment strategist at Edward Jones, says this could be an opportunity for investors. "Put money to work today."
These are the headlines you Need2Know:
The NATO Summit got off to a heated start as President Trump already criticized member countries for not paying their fair share of defense spending.
The Trump administration also missed its promised deadline to reunite dozens of migrant families.
A natural gas leak in Sun Prairie, Wisc., turned deadly when an explosion erupted for several hours.
Brett Kavanaugh, the president's pick for the open Supreme Court seat, met on Capitol Hill with the vice president and senators yesterday.
The NFL Players Association is challenging the anti-kneeling policy, which requires players to remain in the locker room if they choose to protest the national anthem.
Hurricane Chris makes its way up the East Coast, but shouldn't make a major impact on land.
Cheddar Big News' Jill Wagner gives us the details.
