After denying entry to Democratic Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar because of their support for the anti-Israel boycott movement, Israel granted Tlaib her request on humanitarian grounds to visit her grandmother in the Palestinian territories.
However, Tlaib said Friday she won't go, because "visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions stands against everything I believe in – fighting against racism, oppression & injustice."
Israel's interior minister, Aryeh Deri, tweeted Friday that Tlaib's rejection shows her request "was just a provocation aimed at embarrassing Israel."
Apparently, the Israeli official said, Tlaib's "hatred" for the Jewish state outweighs her love for her 90-year-old grandmother.
"Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib just tweeted that she will not visit Israel. Last night, she sent me a letter asking me to allow her to visit her grandmother, who is in her 90s, because ‘this might be my last opportunity to see her," Deri wrote on Twitter. "I agreed to this humanitarian request, but it turns out that it that it was just a provocation aimed at embarrassing Israel."
Tlaib tweeted Friday that when she won her House seat in Michigan last fall, "it gave the Palestinian people hope that someone will finally speak the truth about the inhumane conditions."
"I can't allow the State of Israel to take away that light by humiliating me & use my love for my city to bow down to their oppressive & racist policies," she wrote.
“Silencing me & treating me like a criminal is not what she wants for me," Tlaib said, referring to her grandmother. "It would kill a piece of me. I have decided that visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions stands against everything I believe in–fighting against racism, oppression & injustice."
The original trip planned by Tlaib and Omar was partly sponsored by a Palestinian organization whose members have expressed sympathy for terrorist activities and support the BDS movement, the Tennessee Star reported.
The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue & Democracy, better known as Miftah, was founded by the well-known Palestinian legislator, activist and spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi.
In a 2017 interview, she dismissed Palestinian terrorist attacks by saying they are "seen by the people as resistance." Miftah's website describes female suicide bomber Wafa Idrees as among a few young women who chose to "join the ranks of the resistance movement." In 2002, Idrees killed an 81-year-old and wounded another 150 Israelis.
'Those who deny our right to exist'
On Thursday, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely announced Tlaib and Omar would not be allowed in the country because of a 2017 law that bars entry to anyone who publicly supports the BDS movement. BDS stands for boycotting, divesting from and sanctioning Israel, which critics say has the aim of eliminating the Jewish state.
"We won't allow those who deny our right to exist in this world to enter Israel. In principle this is a very justified decision, Hotovely told Israeli public radio.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu wrote on Facebook that "the two-member congressional visitation plan shows that their intent is to hurt Israel and increase its unrest against it."
On Thursday, prior to Israel's announcement of its decision to ban the congresswomen, President Trump tweeted that it "would show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep.Tlaib to visit."
"They hate Israel & all Jewish people, & there is nothing that can be said or done to change their minds," Trump wrote. "Minnesota and Michigan will have a hard time putting them back in office. They are a disgrace!"