Israel has decided to bar American Democratic congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib from entering the country on Friday, hours after President Trump tweeted that the women “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,” he tweeted.
Shortly afterwards, Israel had made its decision.
“The decision is not to allow them to enter,” Israel’s deputy foreign minister Tzipi Hotovely told Israel’s Reshet Radio, Reuters reported.
According to the New York Post, the reason cited for their ban is reportedly “suspected provocations and promotion of BDS,” a reference to the anti-Israel boycott movement, according to the Times of Israel, which cited a report by local Channel 12.
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri made the decision to bar the US politicians from entering the country on Friday, according to the report.
The freshman politicians – the first two Muslim women elected to Congress and two of Israel’s sharpest critics – have voiced support for the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement against the Jewish state.
According to Channel 12, which did not cite a source, the final decision was being drafted and subject to revisions before the move is publicly announced.
Representatives Tlaib of Michigan and Omar of Minnesota planned to tour the flashpoint site of the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, as well as the West Bank, according to Channel 13.
Read the article in the Gattyon, Lockyer & Brisbane Valley STAR (from the New York Post).