With predictable insouciance, President Donald Trump cheered on the Israeli government’s decision to bar entry to Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib due to their advocacy for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement—reversing its previous pledge to allow them into Israel out of respect for the U.S. Congress. The president let fly on Twitter, stating that allowing Omar and Tlaib into Israel would “show great weakness.”

Trump’s formulation, however, has things precisely backwards. Not only is keeping Omar and Tlaib out a terrible policy decision as it pertains to U.S.-Israel relations, it demonstrates the very weakness that Trump decries.



The bedrock of Israel’s security doctrine is its close ties with the United States, sustained through bipartisan support. Not only does Israel receives billions of dollars in annual security assistance from Congress, it benefits from statements of support such as the recently-passed House Resolution 246, opposing the BDS movement as denying Israel’s legitimacy.



In light of this dynamic, keeping sitting members of Congress from visiting Israel is incredibly shortsighted, no matter their views.



Omar and Tlaib are literally elected representatives of the American government and the American people. Telling them that they are unwelcome in Israel is not simply sending a statement to two individuals. When Israel initially announced that it would allow them entry out of respect for Congress, it captured why keeping them out sends a statement to Congress writ large. It unnecessarily pokes a finger in Congress’s eye, precisely because these are not just two random people. It is difficult to envision any other American ally or any other democracy that would bar sitting members of Congress from their shores.

