Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has laughed off President Donald Trump’s claim she is ‘fuming’ about her colleagues becoming the ‘face of the Democratic Party’, in a tweet he sent Friday evening.
The American leader ramped up animosity following the news on Thursday that Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu would not allow Rashida Tlaib and Rep. Ilhan Omar to make a planned trip to Israel.
The two Muslim lawmakers are outspoken supporters of Palestine but after Tlaib wrote a letter requesting to visit and promising to respect any restrictions and not support a boycott, she subsequently turned down an offer to visit the West Bank on Israel’s terms.
Trump wrote: ‘Like it or not, Tlaib and Omar are fast becoming the face of the Democrat Party. Cortez (AOC) is fuming, not happy about this!’
Trump tweeted Friday: ‘Like it or not, Tlaib and Omar are fast becoming the face of the Democrat Party. Cortez (AOC) is fuming, not happy about this!’
AOC replied with a crying with laughter emoticon on Friday after Trump’s claim on Twitter
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Thursday: ‘Netanyahu choosing to ban the only 2 Muslim women’ showed ‘Trump is exporting his bigotry & making matters worse’. She’s pictured with Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn, on July 15
It prompted Ocasio-Cortez to reply with a crying with laughter emoticon.
On Thursday she responded to the news of their ban saying: ‘MoC are frequently asked to visit Israel to “see things for ourselves.” But Netanyahu choosing to ban the only 2 Muslim women in Congress from entering tells the US that only *some* Americans are welcome to Israel, not all. Trump is exporting his bigotry &making matters worse.’
She showed additional support for her colleagues by retweeting other politician’s outrage at the decision.
Trump’s claim came as part of series of tweets where he began: ‘Israel was very respectful & nice to Rep. Rashida Tlaib, allowing her permission to visit her “grandmother.” As soon as she was granted permission, she grandstanded & loudly proclaimed she would not visit Israel. Could this possibly have been a setup? Israel acted appropriately!
‘Rep. Tlaib wrote a letter to Israeli officials desperately wanting to visit her grandmother. Permission was quickly granted, whereupon Tlaib obnoxiously turned the approval down, a complete setup. The only real winner here is Tlaib’s grandmother. She doesn’t have to see her now!’
Tlaib was born in the United States but traces her roots to the Palestinian village of Beit Ur Al-Fauqa in the West Bank. Her grandmother and extended family live in that village.
Israel banned Tlaib and Omar Thursday and after the PM later granted Tlaib permission to visit her grandmother on certain terms she turned the offer down. AOC shared this tweet
It sparked a Twitter rant where Trump suggested the whole thing was a setup
Trump spitefully suggested it was best Tlaib’s grandmother didn’t see her in Israel
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, who had visited Israel last week and spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about letting Tlaib in the country, criticized Israel for placing restrictions on her visit.
Tlaib, along with her fellow Muslim congresswoman Ilhan Omar, had been banned from entering Israel for a planned visit this weekend due to their vocal support of Palestinians and the BDS movement.
The two women were scheduled to visit Israel and the occupied territories as guests of a Palestinian lawmaker.
Netanyahu announced Thursday the lawmakers – the first Muslim women elected to Congress – would not be granted entry because they could ‘hurt’ Israel.
His announcement came about an hour after President Donald Trump tweeted his objection to the visit.
The lawmakers expressed their fury at the ban and took the opportunity to criticize Netanyahu for his treatment of Palestinians.
Omar accused Netanyahu of implementing Trump’s ‘Muslim ban’ against two members of Congress, a reference to the administration’s policy to ban refugees from seven Muslim countries, including her birthplace of Somalia.
Tlaib, meanwhile, tweeted on Thursday a photo of her grandmother Muftia Tlaib and said Israel’s decision to ‘bar her granddaughter’ from visiting was a ‘sign of weakness.’
AOC retweeted the message before she responded to Trump on Friday.
Trump’s suggestion came the same day Tlaib got emotional as she speaks to attendees during a Shabbat in the Park’ in Detroit, Michigan.
Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib gets emotional as she speaks to attendees during a Shabbat in the Park’ in Detroit, Michigan on Friday
Netanyahu’s decision to bar the women from his country came after Trump advised it would show ‘great weakness’ to allow the Democratic members of Congress to obtain entry, claiming they ‘hate Israel & all Jewish people.’
‘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!,’ the president tweeted Thursday morning.
He doubled down on his criticism of the two women later in the day.
‘They are so anti-Israel, so anti-Jewish,’ he told reporters in New Jersey, where he is spending a few weeks at his Trump National Golf Course Bedminister.
Omar and Tlaib – along with fellow ‘squad’ members Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley – are frequent targets of Trump’s political fury.
The two congresswomen support the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions movement, which aims to end international support for Israel because of its policies toward Palestinians and its continued construction on the West Bank, which is considered a violation of international law.
The boycott also calls for full equality for Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Under Israeli law, backers of the movement can be denied entry into the country.