16th August, 2019
In several tweets Friday, she said she will not go to the West Bank and Israel to visit her grandmother after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government initially forbid her from entering.
Tlaib said Israel’s government had sought to silence her and had treated her as a criminal, and that she had decided she would not visit her grandmother under those circumstances.
“Silencing me & treating me like a criminal is not what she wants for me,” said Tlaib, whose parents are Palestinian immigrants. “It would kill a piece of me. I have decided that visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions stands against everything I believe in — fighting against racism, oppression & injustice.”
Silencing me & treating me like a criminal is not what she wants for me. It would kill a piece of me. I have decided that visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions stands against everything I believe in–fighting against racism, oppression & injustice. https://t.co/z5t5j3qk4H
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) August 16, 2019
Tlaib is one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress. The other, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), was also barred from entering Israel.
Israel said it would not allow the two women to enter because of their support for the international BDS movement, which advocates for boycotting, disinvesting and sanctioning Israel over its treatment of the Palestinians.
In a sudden turn, the Netanyahu government on Friday said it would allow Tlaib to enter the country to visit her grandmother.
“When I won, it gave the Palestinian people hope that someone will finally speak the truth about the inhumane conditions,” Tlaib wrote in her tweet. “I can’t allow the State of Israel to take away that light by humiliating me & use my love for my sity to bow down to their oppressive & racist policies.”
Israel decided to not allow Tlaib and Omar to visit the country after President Trump on Thursday urged them not to do so. Trump has repeatedly used Tlaib and Omar, who have both been critical of Israel’s policies, as political foils.
Trump and Israel’s government came under heavy criticism for Democrats for their actions, as well as from some Republicans.
While most of the Republicans commenting said they disagreed with Omar and Ilhan on policy matters related to Israel, they argued that barring them from entering the country would give attention to their views and ammunition to Israel’s critics.