House Democrats consider action against Israeli and U.S. ambassadors over banning of Tlaib and Omar

Senior Democratic members of Congress are “are considering releasing a statement of no confidence” in Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer and “opening an inspector-general investigation” into U.S. envoy to Israel David Friedman over Israel’s decision to ban Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar from entering Israel.

The Democratic lawmakers are advancing the idea that Omar and Tlaib were banned from Israel because they are Muslim; nothing could be further from the truth. The Dems:

raised an incident in 1975 in which Henry Waxman, a longtime Democratic congressman from California, was initially banned from Saudi Arabia for his Jewish roots. He was eventually granted entry following pressure from the State Department.

Friedman’s endorsement of Israel’s decision to bar Omar and Tlaib’s entry into the country broke with that precedent, they argued, and as a result called for an investigation “the role the ambassador played in barring them from entering the country.”

The Waxman case is completely different from that of Omar and Tlaib. Waxman was banned from Saudi Arabia because he was Jewish, while Omar and Tlaib have been banned from Israel because they are a security threat to the Jewish state. They were going there with the intention of furthering the Palestinian jihad against Israel, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explained when he defended his decision on the basis that the “the two intended to use the visit to harm Israel.” He stated:

“Several days ago, we received [Omar and Tlaib’s] trip itinerary,” Netanyahu said, “which clarified that they planned a visit whose sole purpose was to support boycotts and deny Israel’s legitimacy. For example, they called their destination ‘Palestine’ and not ‘Israel,’ and unlike all Democratic and Republican members of Congress before them, they did not seek any meeting with any Israeli official, whether government or opposition.”

Omar and Tlaib have brought to the forefront a fact that has been virtually ignored since 1948: that the aim of the Palestinian Authority, Fatah, Hamas, the Palestinian Liberation Organization and every other Palestinian movement is to obliterate the state of Israel. Accusations against Israel about “racism,” “apartheid,” and the so-called “occupation” are intended to delegitimize the Jewish state. When Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas declared that “not a single Israeli” would live in a future Palestinian state, that was a demonstration of apartheid.

As Robert Spencer writes:

Omar and Tlaib are not just Congresswomen with opinions that are critical of Israel. They are not just spokesmen; they are activists. They are active apologists for the jihad terror networks Hamas and Hizballah.

In 2017, Israel passed a law that barred entry to those advocating for Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, and “Israel’s Interior and Strategic Affairs Ministries have denied visas to students, activists and artists who have a proven record of publicly calling for the boycott of Israel.” Tlaib and Omar not only advocate for BDS; they also sponsored a bill in Congress to support it, and Tlaib has compared the boycott of Israel to the American boycott of Nazi Germany.

Without the support of useful idiots, the relentless Palestinian jihad would not have advanced into Congress and continued its dogged efforts there. In the words of Rashida Tlaib:

The more they try to silence us, our voices rise. The more they try to weaken us, the stronger we become.

But in reality, the supporters of BDS and other anti-Israel initiatives are emboldened by the weakness they perceive in their opposition.

Report: House Democrats Weighing Action Against Israeli, U.S. Envoys over Tlaib, Omar Ban,” by Deborah Danan, Breitbart, August 18, 2019:

TEL AVIV – Senior Democratic members of Congress are said to have launched discussions to formally censure the U.S. Ambassador to Israel and Jerusalem’s envoy in Washington over Israel’s decision to bar entry to congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar.

Around a dozen lawmakers, several of whom are Jewish, have begun talks to communicate a “deep lack of confidence and trust” in Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer and U.S. envoy to Israel David Friedman, the McClatchy news service reported, citing congressional sources.

According to the report, the Democrats are considering releasing a statement of no confidence in Dermer and opening an inspector-general investigation into Friedman.

Among the twelve are House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel and House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, two Jewish lawmakers from New York.

“We are reviewing all of our options,” McClatchy quoted a source as saying. “With Dermer, the issue is that there already was a severe lack of trust. But now there is a severe lack of confidence. It is completely unclear that he represents his government given he has made promises that he has not kept and wasn’t clear if he ever had any chance of keeping.”

Last month, Dermer assured lawmakers that Omar and Tlaib — open supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel — would be allowed into Israel “out of respect for Congress.”

However, on Thursday, Israel said the two would be denied entry.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a statement defending the decision to bar entry to Omar and Tlaib, said the two intended to use the visit to harm Israel.

“Several days ago, we received [Omar and Tlaib’s] trip itinerary,” Netanyahu said, “which clarified that they planned a visit whose sole purpose was to support boycotts and deny Israel’s legitimacy. For example, they called their destination ‘Palestine’ and not ‘Israel,’ and unlike all Democratic and Republican members of Congress before them, they did not seek any meeting with any Israeli official, whether government or opposition.”

On Friday, Omar claimed that she had planned to meet with Knesset members and security officials, although the jam-packed itinerary — released days before their planned visit — showed otherwise.

The trip, according to the itinerary, would be based exclusively in the Palestinian territories with the exception of the first day that would take place in the primarily Arab-populated eastern area of Jerusalem. The two were slated to meet only with Palestinian officials as well as representatives from human rights groups and other organizations.

The congresswomen were scheduled to meet with representatives from Palestinian groups Miftah, a sponsor of the trip, and the Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCI-P), groups that have endorsed terrorism and have ties to terror organizations.

“In addition, the organization that is funding their trip is Miftah, which is an avid supporter of BDS, and among whose members are those who have expressed support for terrorism against Israel,” Netanyahu said.

The prime minister said that Tlaib was welcome to apply to visit on humanitarian grounds to see her family, with the caveat that she not engage in promoting boycotts of Israel while in the country. Tlaib acquiesced, and quickly received permission to visit. However, she changed her mind hours later, saying that coming to Israel on its terms would be “humiliating” and she would not “bow down to their oppressive & racist policies.”

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, who recently led a large Democratic delegation to Israel, issued a statement Thursday censuring Israel over the decision and said it contradicted what he and others had been told by Dermer.

McClatchy quoted the source as saying, “Dermer is saying privately that he expects this to go away within a day — it’s a real lack of understanding on the consequences of this.”

In the discussions Friday, the lawmakers raised an incident in 1975 in which Henry Waxman, a longtime Democratic congressman from California, was initially banned from Saudi Arabia for his Jewish roots. He was eventually granted entry following pressure from the State Department…..

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RELATED VIDEO: Tlaib’s Guest Praised Murderer of 4-Year-Old Einat.

EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. © All rights reserved.

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