ST. PAUL, Minn. -- U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib sharply criticized Israel on Monday for denying them entry to the Jewish state, and the two Democrats called on fellow members of Congress to visit while they cannot.
Omar, D-Minn., suggested President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were suppressing the lawmakers' ability to carry out their oversight role.
"I would encourage my colleagues to visit, meet with the people we were going to meet with, see the things we were going to see, hear the stories we were going to hear," Omar said at a news conference. "We cannot let Trump and Netanyahu succeed in hiding the cruel reality of the occupation from us."
Israel denied entry to Congress' first two Muslim women over their support for the Palestinian-led boycott movement against Israel. Tlaib and Omar, who had planned to visit Jerusalem and the Israeli-occupied West Bank on a tour organized by a Palestinian group, are outspoken critics of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians.
Tlaib, D-Mich., and Omar were joined Monday by Minnesota residents who said they had been directly affected by travel restrictions in the past. They included Lana Barkawi, a Palestinian-American who's the executive and artistic director of Mizna, a cultural group that sponsors the annual Twin Cities Arab Film Fest. The U.S. government denied visas to several Mideast actors and directors who had been invited to participate last year.
White House spokesman Hogan Gidley kept up the administration's criticism of the two lawmakers.
"Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar have a well-documented history of anti-Semitic comments, anti-Semitic social media posts and anti-Semitic relationships," he said in a statement. "Israel has the right to prevent people who want to destroy it from entering the country -- and Democrats' pointless Congressional inquiries here in America cannot change the laws Israel has passed to protect itself."
Before Israel's decision, Trump tweeted that it would be a "show of weakness" to allow the two representatives in. Israel controls entry and exit to the West Bank, which it seized in the 1967 Mideast war along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, territories the Palestinians want for a future state.
Netanyahu's move to block the congresswomen has been widely seen as a capitulation to Trump, but the Israeli prime minister had long identified Tlaib and Omar as a problem for his government, according to a letter dated June 2 and viewed by The Washington Post on Monday.
The letter, addressed to U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., was in response to a number of Democratic lawmakers who had signed a letter urging Netanyahu to reconsider an order to deport a Human Rights Watch researcher based in Jerusalem. A spokesman for McGovern later confirmed that his office had received the letter from Netanyahu on Aug. 14.
The researcher -- Omar Shakir, a U.S. citizen and the director of the Human Rights Watch office for Israel and the Palestinian territories -- has been accused of supporting the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel, commonly called BDS. Supporters say that targeting Israel economically is a nonviolent way of protesting its military rule over occupied territories, but Israel says the movement aims to delegitimize the state and eventually wipe it off the map.
Both Tlaib and Omar had signed the House Democrats' letter to Netanyahu.
"I was surprised to see among the signatories of your letter two BDS supporters, whose repeated condemnations of Israel and calls to boycott the Jewish state are the antithesis of the strong support for Israel expressed in the beginning of your letter and the strong bipartisan support for Israel in the United States Congress," Netanyahu wrote. "The inclusion of BDS sympathizers in your plea can only blemish those esteemed representatives whose political integrity and genuine concern for international human rights is undeniable."
Critics argue that Netanyahu's targeting of Democratic lawmakers risks turning support for Israel into a partisan issue, thereby undermining ties between the close allies.
The Israeli Embassy in Washington did not respond on Monday to a request for comment on the letter.
Information for this article was contributed by Steve Karnowski of The Associated Press; and by Adam Taylor of The Washington Post.
A Section on 08/20/2019