After Trump push, Israel blocks visit by Omar, Tlaib

Move slammed as ‘affront to the American people’ and ‘assault on Palestinians’ right ‘to reach out to decision-makers’. Israel has decided to bar United States congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar from entering the country ahead of a planned trip to the occupied West Bank, in a move that came shortly after US President Donald Trump said it would “show great weakness” to allow them in. The decision on Thursday was swiftly denounced by Miftah, the Palestinian group cosponsoring the planned trip this weekend, as “an affront to the American people and their representatives” and “an assault on the Palestinian people’s right to reach out to decision-makers and other actors from around the world.” Israeli Minister of the Interior Aryeh Deri issued a statement saying that after consultations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials, he decided not to allow Tlaib and Omar to enter because of “their boycott activities against Israel”. “Like all prolific human rights abusers, Israel wants to impose a blackout on the reality in occupied Palestine and prevent Congresswomen Tlaib, Omar from having direct contact with the Palestinian people, who are subject to Israel’s cruel regime of colonisation, oppression, and land grab,” Miftah said. Mustafa Barghouti, general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, said Israel’s behaviour shows that “they are afraid that these two congresswomen will expose to the world the horrible violations of human rights that are conducted against the Palestinian people.” Reporting from West Jerusalem, Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett referenced Trump’s tweet as he said that US pressure may have influenced Israel’s decision to block the two congressmen from entering the country.