Imagine this: a sitting U.S. President urged a foreign government not to allow two United States congresswomen entrance. That's the sort of dystopian hell we're in right now.
Source: The Guardian
Israel has announced it will block US congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib from entering the country, in a controversial move that will likely attract strong rebukes from Democratic lawmakers.
“The decision has been made, the decision is not to allow them to enter,” Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely told Israel‘s Reshet Radio.
Omar and Tlaib, high-profile Democrats who have been critical of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, had been planning a visit to the occupied Palestinian territories and Jerusalem for next week.
Less than an hour ahead of the announcement, Donald Trump put pressure on Israel to block his political rivals, saying “it would show great weakness” if it allowed them in.
Israel passed a law in 2017 allowing the government to bar people who support a boycott of Israel or illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. The measure – widely condemned as anti-democratic and anti-free speech – was an attempt to combat the growing boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.
John Amato: Both freshman Congresswomen have never said or intimated they hate Israel or its people. What a disgraceful display of hatred from a U.S. president.
Josh Marshall writes, "The truth is that this isn’t Israeli policy or even precisely Netanyahu policy. This is an electoral gambit. Israel has an election next month and Netanyahu is in a fight for his political life. He may even be in a fight for his freedom since remaining in office is his best play to delay or quash corruption charges. This is an effort to juice outrage and support from the Israeli far right."
