Yeah, 2020 is gonna be lit, y’all:

Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib are ramping up their criticism of Israel’s decision to block them from entering the country, where according to Tlaib “racism and the politics of hate” are “thriving.”

But in defending its decision, the Israeli government is citing the radical history of the group that was slated to sponsor the trip.

That group, named Miftah, has a long record of anti-Israel rhetoric that includes downplaying attacks on Israelis and even describing suicide bombers as “sacrificing their lives for the cause.” . . .

“The organization that is funding their trip is Miftah, which is an avid supporter of BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement), and among whose members are those who have expressed support for terrorism against Israel,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.

Netanyahu cited Miftah as he alleged the lawmakers had ulterior, anti-Israel motives in their planned Israel trip.

For instance, a 2006 Miftah report dealing with the Second Intifada — a wave of Palestinian violence in the early 2000s — discussed a 2002 Jerusalem suicide bombing under a section titled “Fighting Back.” It described the attack, where Wafa Idrees blew herself up with a bomb that killed an Israeli and injured more than 100 others, as “the beginning of a string of Palestinian women dedicated to sacrificing their lives for the cause.” . . .

More recently, a June 2019 document authored by Miftah promoting an interview with Birzeit University lecturer Dr. Ghassan Khatib said, “There must be coherence between official Palestinian diplomacy and public diplomacy, one form of which is the BDS movement.”

Israeli law allows the country to bar anyone who promotes BDS from entering. Omar and Tlaib are vocal supporters of the movement and had planned a trip with a group that appears to endorse it fully. Their colleagues in the House, meanwhile, passed a resolution in opposition to BDS in July with a 398-17 vote. . . .

Miftah drew accusations of blatant anti-Semitism in 2013, when they published an article that gave credence to the medieval blood libel, the false claim that Jews use Christian blood to make matzah for the Passover holiday.

These two are pitching it right into the Trump campaign’s wheel house:

“Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar have a well-documented history of anti-Semitic comments, anti-Semitic social media posts and anti-Semitic relationships,” said White House spokesman Hogan Gidley. “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.”

According to a weekend report in McClatchy, senior Democrats in Congress were considering legislative action against Ron Dermer, Israel’s ambassador to Washington, and David Friedman, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, in response to the decision not to let Tlaib, D-Mich., and Omar, D-Minn., enter Israel. That could include a possible vote on a statement of no confidence in Dermer, as well as calls for the opening of an inspector-general investigation into Friedman.

So, for the sake of defending the most radical members of their caucus, Democrats in Congress are “considering legislative action” against the Israeli ambassador? Four more years, baby. #Winning!







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