POLITICO Playbook PM: Scoop: Miftah wasn’t a problem when other congressmen went to ‘Palestine’ with them

When Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu denied two congresswomen entry into Israel, he criticized the fact that Miftah was funding their trip. But Miftah has sponsored trips for members of Congress in the past, and Israel has let them in the country. | Amir Levy/Getty Images

NOW, SHE’S OUT … AFTER ASKING FOR AND SECURING permission to visit her elderly grandmother in the West Bank, Rep. RASHIDA TLAIB (D-Mich.) now says she will not go to Israel.

-- TLAIB: “Visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions meant to humiliate me would break my grandmother's heart. Silencing me with treatment to make me feel less-than is not what she wants for me – it would kill a piece of me that always stands up against racism and injustice.” The full statement


ISRAEL’S INTERIOR MINISTER ARYEH DERI: “Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib is now not coming to Israel. Last night, she sent me a letter asking to allow her to visit her 90-year-old grandmother because this could be the last time to see her. I authorized this humanitarian trip, but it turns out that it was a provocation to embarrass Israel. Her hatred for Israel overcomes her love for her grandmother.” The tweet, for Hebrew speakers … He translated the tweet, and tagged Donald Trump on Twitter

WAPO’S JAMES MCCAULEY, the Post’s Paris correspondent who is on loan to the Jerusalem bureau, and SUFIAN TAHA: “Meet Rashida Tlaib’s grandma: ‘Who wouldn’t be proud of a granddaughter like that?’”: “Rashida Tlaib’s grandmother doesn’t understand why her granddaughter, a sitting U.S. congresswoman, couldn’t visit her as originally planned.

“Muftiyah Tlaib — who says she is somewhere between 85 and her early 90s — lives in the village of Beit Ur al-Fauqa, about 15 miles outside Jerusalem and close to the seam line between Israel and the West Bank, territory that Israel occupied in 1967 after the Six-Day War and that Palestinians hope to see part of a national state someday.

“She lives in the same elegant limestone house in the same sleepy village she has called home since 1974 — the house where the whole village once came to celebrate Rashida Tlaib’s wedding, and the house that today looks directly onto an Israeli settlement with a visible military presence. …

“‘She’s in a big position and she cannot visit her grandmother,’ she laughed, seated in her living room on Friday morning. ‘So what good is the position?’” WaPo

FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH … WHEN ISRAELI PM BENJAMIN NETANYAHU denied Reps. ILHAN OMAR (D-Minn.) and TLAIB entry into Israel, he said, in part, this: “[T]he itinerary of the two Congresswomen reveals that their sole purpose is to harm Israel and increase incitement against it. 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.”

… WELL, MIFTAH has sponsored trips for members of Congress in the past, and Israel has let them in the country.

IN 2016, Reps. MATT CARTWRIGHT (D-Pa.), DAN KILDEE (D-Mich.), MARK POCAN (D-Wis.), LUIS GUTIERREZ (D-Ill.) and HANK JOHNSON (D-Ga.) all went on a five-day trip to Israel and the West Bank sponsored by the group.

-- THE TRIP, which was between May 26 and June 1, 2016, was sponsored by the American Global Institute in addition to Miftah.

-- AND ON THAT TRIP, the members of Congress listed their destination as “Palestine - Jerusalem - Ramallah” -- not Israel.

-- THOSE MEMBERS OF CONGRESS stayed in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Ramallah. They met with PLO officials and MIFTAH board members, went to Hebron and met with its mayor, and tried to tour Gaza, but were prevented by the Israeli government.

DIG INTO THE TRIP FILINGS, INCLUDING THE ITINERARY: Kildee’s, Pocan’s, Gutierrez’s, Johnson’s and Cartwright’s.

BEDMINSTER, TODAY … CNN’S KYLIE ATWOOD and NICK PATON WALSH: “Trump to meet security officials on Afghanistan as concerns mount about U.S. withdrawal”: “President Trump is expected to meet with his top national security advisers on Friday to review a US-Taliban peace plan that could end America's longest running war -- but could also trigger a surrender for the US and a betrayal of the Afghan government, critics say. …

“The peace plan is expected to formalize a significant withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan -- from about 15,000 troops to 8,000 or 9,000 troops -- and enshrine official commitments by the Taliban to counterterrorism efforts in Afghanistan …

“While the deal will include other elements, including a US-Taliban ceasefire, it also has at least one crucial omission: it is not expected to secure a commitment by the Taliban to hold its fire on the Afghan people or the Afghan military.” CNN

Happy Friday afternoon. SPOTTED: Beto O’Rourke on a morning jog around the Capitol complex in Jackson, Miss., also checking out the Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center. Pic … Matt Whitaker at 1789 in Georgetown on Thursday night. Pic

THE BIG LOOK … NYT’S THE LONG RUN … GLENN THRUSH: “Obama and Biden’s Relationship Looks Rosy. It Wasn’t Always That Simple.”

THE LATEST ON GUNS -- ANITA KUMAR and GABBY ORR: “‘I’m worried’: Allies fear NRA has lost its power in Washington”: “The National Rifle Association’s internal turmoil is preventing the once-mighty organization from crafting a plan to blunt the latest gun control push, highlighting the group’s weakness at a crucial political moment.

“The disarray at the NRA is alarming allies who say President Donald Trump and Congress appear to have a brief opening to pass legislation while the group is so politically feeble that it isn’t able to aggressively lobby lawmakers against proposals or hold them accountable for their votes … Multiple Republican Senate offices say they haven’t heard from the NRA … The NRA has a net negative rating for the first time.” POLITICO

-- MARK YOUR CALENDARS … BUZZFEED’S KADIA GOBA: “The House Judiciary Committee Will Come Back To Washington A Few Days Early To Work On Gun Control Legislation: The committee will mark up three gun control bills on September 4th.”

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CHINA LATEST -- “Trump administration plans $8 billion fighter jet sale to Taiwan, angering China,” by WaPo’s Ellen Nakashima and Anne Gearan: “The State Department late Thursday submitted the package for informal review … Lawmakers from both parties had questioned whether the White House would scuttle the sale to soften the ground for a U.S.-China trade deal, or otherwise use the fighter jets as a bargaining chip in deadlocked negotiations. …

“Taiwan requested 66 American-made fighter jets, which lawmakers have said is a test of U.S. resolve. The move is likely to anger China, which could follow through on threats to sanction companies that make the jets. The United States has not sold new fighter jets to Taiwan since the George H.W. Bush administration.” WaPo

-- MEANWHILE … “Chinese, Russian Warplanes Test U.S. Patience in Skies Near South Korea,” by WSJ’s Andrew Jeong in Seoul: “The aerial campaigns come as Beijing vows to strengthen its military alliance with Moscow, heightening tensions across the Asia-Pacific region as the U.S. and China jockey for power there. The Korean Peninsula is once again providing a convenient stage for military provocations, as it did during the Cold War.” WSJ

THE INVESTIGATIONS … KYLE CHENEY and ANDREW DESIDERIO: “House Democrats to mine intel to build Trump impeachment case”: “The Intelligence Committee’s involvement could provide Democrats with more evidence against Trump that could strengthen their case against him. …

“Traditionally, an impeachment process has involved the public airing of allegations and evidence against a sitting president. But counterintelligence information, by its nature, is classified and cannot be publicly released or discussed — presenting lawmakers with a new challenge when making the public case for Trump’s ouster.” POLITICO

WHO HAD ‘OVERSTOCK CEO’ IN THEIR RUSSIAGATE MAD LIBS? -- “Overstock C.E.O. Takes Aim at ‘Deep State’ After Romance With Russian Agent,” by NYT’s Michael Corkery: “It was the start of a three-year relationship between the e-commerce executive, Patrick Byrne, and the young woman, Maria Butina, that became romantic at times. …

“Mr. Byrne’s relationship became widely known on Monday, when his company took the unusual step of issuing a news release that called attention to it. In the release, which was put out in response to a report that Mr. Byrne had been involved in the federal inquiry into the 2016 presidential election, Mr. Byrne said that he had been helping law enforcement agents, whom he referred to as ‘Men in Black,’ with their ‘Clinton Investigation’ and ‘Russia Investigation.’” NYT

FAMILY SEPARATION REVERBERATIONS -- “Migrant kids separated at border faced abuse in foster homes,” by AP’s Garance Burke, Juliet Linderman and Martha Mendoza with PBS’ “Frontline” in Santa Ana, Calif.: “A review of 38 legal claims obtained by The Associated Press — some of which have never been made public — shows taxpayers could be on the hook for more than $200 million in damages from parents who said their children were harmed while in government custody. …

“[D]ozens of families — separated at the border as part of the Trump administration’s zero tolerance policy — … are now preparing to sue the federal government, including several who say their young children were sexually, physically or emotionally abused in federally funded foster care.” AP

HEADS UP -- IAN KULLGREN: “Construction workers prepare to battle former ally Trump”: “One of the nation’s largest labor groups embraced Donald Trump at the start of his presidency, in hopes he would create construction jobs and retreat from proposals that might reduce workers’ wages. But now the two sides are on the brink of war, endangering a key bloc of Trump’s support in Midwestern swing states in 2020.

“At issue is a deal gone bad between Trump and North America’s Building Trades Unions over a Labor Department apprenticeship initiative, the politics of which have grown more complicated since last month’s ouster of Secretary Alexander Acosta. Leaders of the union federation worry that the final version will undermine their own job-training programs and create a supply of cheap labor for developers, undercutting high-skilled construction workers who rely on prevailing-wage jobs to make ends meet.” POLITICO

2020 WATCH -- ELENA SCHNEIDER in Tipton, Iowa: “Buttigieg lags behind rivals in Iowa after big national splash”: “The 37-year-old mayor has yet to snag a single in-state endorsement in Iowa, and while his campaign has 57 staffers on the ground, it expanded to that number only recently. It’s a sharp contrast to other top Democratic candidates, who made investments in Iowa last winter to try to identify supporters and build a foundation for 2020, knowing the results here will shape the rest of the fight for the Democratic nomination.

“But Buttigieg … hopes his strategy, which he says was partly borne out of modern necessity, has given him the resources to run an accelerated Iowa campaign ahead of next year’s vote.” POLITICO

-- LAURA BARRÓN-LÓPEZ: “Kamala Harris launches Spanish-language organizing program”: “The latest iteration specifically aimed at Latinos will have Spanish-speaking staff training voters and providing resources to best mobilize their communities in support of Harris’ presidential campaign. The program is meant to build grassroots energy on the ground that Harris can later plug into through primary and general election states. The initial national project has trained more than 16,000 volunteers across the 50 states.” POLITICO

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THE POLICY PRIMARY -- DAVID SIDERS: “O’Rourke calls for mandatory gun buyback, licensing”: “The mandatory buyback proposal goes further than most Democrats in the 2020 presidential field, though Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has suggested she supports such a program.

“In addition to banning assault weapons and requiring their forfeiture, O’Rourke said he would work to implement a voluntary buyback program for handguns. He proposed increasing the excise tax on gun manufacturers and fines on gun traffickers to fund buybacks.” POLITICO

-- ALEX THOMPSON: “Warren takes on DNA test fallout with sweeping tribal plan”: “At over 9,000 words, the plan is more than double the length of any other proposal she’s introduced during her presidential campaign. … Warren’s exhaustive plan makes no mention of her fraught history on the issue but it does address seemingly every other topic including past treaties, criminal jurisdiction, the Dakota Access pipeline, banking access, roads, Native American contractors, housing, the Indian Health Service, the Bureau of Indian Education, violence against Indigenous women, and many more.

“The Warren team highlighted that she is the first presidential candidate to call for an ‘Oliphant fix,’ a reference to the 1978 Supreme Court decision that said non-Natives on tribal land aren’t automatically subject to tribal government criminal jurisdiction.” POLITICO … Medium post

-- WAPO’S ELISE VIEBECK: “Cory Booker wants a ‘baby bond’ for every U.S. child. Would it work?”

RACHANA PRADHAN: “Discrimination complaints hit group fighting Trump’s health policies”: “The National Health Law Program, or NHeLP, was founded in 1969 to advocate for health care rights of underserved people. It has grown more prominent in the Trump era, taking on causes like fighting Medicaid work requirements.

“But some of its employees have described an environment allowing mistreatment of minority and LGBTQ employees, including instances of bullying black women; employees telling ‘off-color jokes’ about women and Jewish people; and a ‘sense of not belonging among LGBTQ staff,’ according to a 2018 assessment on its workplace culture obtained by POLITICO.” POLITICO

TV TONIGHT -- Bob Costa will sit down with NYT’s Elisabeth Bumiller, NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, WaPo’s Toluse Olorunnipa and WSJ’s Jerry Seib at 8 p.m. on PBS’ “Washington Week.”

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