‘They hate Israel and ALL Jewish people.’ Trump demands firebrand Democrats Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib are banned from entering Israel on Congressional trip with all-out attack calling them ‘a disgrace’
- Donald Trump advised Israel it would show ‘great weakness’ to allow Democratic Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib to visit
- ‘They hate Israel & all Jewish people, & there is nothing that can be said or done to change their minds,’ he tweeted
- The two women were making the visit with a pro-Palestinian organization
- The lawmakers support the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions movement
- Israeli government is still weighing whether to allow the entry
Donald Trump on Thursday advised Israel it would show ‘great weakness’ to allow Democratic Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib to visit, claiming they ‘hate Israel & all Jewish people.’
Israeli officials are considering banning the two women – the first Muslim women elected to Congress – from visiting its nation and the Palestinian territories because of their support for a boycott.
Trump encouraged the move.
‘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!,’ he tweeted Thursday morning.
Donald Trump advised Israel it would show ‘great weakness’ to allow Democratic Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib to visit
Democratic Representatives Ilhan Omar (left) and Rashida Tlaib (right) are the first Muslim women elected to Congress
‘There is a possibility that Israel will not allow the visit in its current proposed format. Professional teams and legal counsel in various government ministries are continuing to examine the decision,’ an Israeli official told CNN.
The two congresswoman 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 two women were to travel with an organization headed by a longtime Palestinian lawmaker, Hanan Ashrawi.
The itinerary includes stops in the West Bank cities of Hebron, Ramallah and Bethlehem, as well as Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, including a visit to the Al Aqsa Mosque, a hotly contested holy site, according to The New York Times.
No meetings had been planned with either Israeli or Palestinian officials, other than with Ashrawi, who is also a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee. She told the newspaper the organization she chairs, Miftah, was co-sponsoring the visit.
The president has long has Omar and Tlaib in his cross hairs – along with their fellow ‘squad’ members Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley.
Additionally, Omar has been a vocal credit of the country, claiming lawmakers supported it for financial reasons with her now infamous ‘all about the Benjamins’ tweet in February.
She later apologized for her remarks, which critics said were anti-Semitic, and acknowledged that they were wrong. Additionally, the House voted on a resolution condemning hate language – a move in reaction to comments from Omar.
President Trump has long criticized the two congresswomen
Tlaib was a Trump critic from the start. Shortly after she took the oath of office in January, video emerged of her at a MoveOn.org event , vowing of the president: ‘We’re going to impeach the motherf***er!’
Trump has expressed his anger with both of them and suggested last month that all four lawmakers on the ‘squad’ go ‘back where they came from.’
Only Omar was born outside of the United States – she immigrated from Somalia as a child – and she became an American citizen when she was a teenager.
Tlaib was planning to stay a few extra days after the planned trip to visit her grandmother, who lives in the region.
The Michigan lawmaker 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 the village.