Radio Recap: Reps. Omar and Tlaib Threaten Israel’s Aid

Congresswomen Omar and Tlaib slammed Israel in a press conference yesterday, calling for the U.S. to defund Israel.

Today on the show we discussed how Reps. Tlaib and Omar – the first two Muslim women elected to Congress – attacked Israel at a joint press conference in Rep. Omar’s home state of Minnesota yesterday, stating their desire to cut off U.S. foreign aid to Israel.

During the press conference, Congresswoman Omar tipped her hand when she said:

As legislators we have an obligation to see the reality for ourselves. We have a responsibility to conduct oversight over our government's foreign policy and what happens with the millions of dollars we send in aid. So I would encourage my colleagues to visit. Meet with the people we were going to meet with. See the things we were going to see. Hear the stories we were going to hear.

Israel is our partner and ally. As Professor and ACLJ Director of Policy Harry Hutchison pointed out, Israel is perhaps our truest ally in the Middle East. They stand by us, unlike the other countries to which we give many more dollars in foreign aid. Reps. Omar and Tlaib’s real motivation is the destruction of Israel. By mentioning the foreign aid, they are threatening our greatest ally in the region. As we told you previously, even their trip to Israel was sponsored by an anti-Israel, Palestinian terrorist-sympathizing organization.

Rep. Omar continued to portray herself and Rep. Tlaib as victims and doubled-down on her attacks of Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu:

What I tell Rashida all the time is that you don’t ever allow people to enjoy your tears. I say that all the time. There are so many people invested in our pain, in our struggle, in seeing us broken. And the one thing that is important to me more than anything, as we fight for the most marginalized people, is that we have our internal liberation carry us to external liberation . . . . And there is no way that we are ever, ever going to allow people to tear us down, see us cry, you know, out of pain, to ever make us feel like our certificate is less than theirs. So we are going to hold our head up high, and we are going to fight this administration and the oppressive Netanyahu administration, until we take our last breath.

Whenever Reps. Omar and Tlaib are questioned, they cast themselves as the victims and blame others for their problems and then they double down on the rhetoric. It is simple. They were banned from traveling to Israel because of their outrageous anti-Israel behavior and rhetoric. That kind of rhetoric is dangerous and can incite violence.

Rep. Tlaib also said:

Today, Reps. Omar, and Pleska, and I were supposed to be on a Congressional trip and delegation to the Palestine and Israel. And such delegations are common occurrence for members of congress. Earlier this month, in fact, 71 other members of Congress traveled to Israel, seemingly without incident. What is not common occurrence is members of congress being barred from entering a country on these fact finding missions unless they agree to strict set of rules curtailing their rights or being required to submit their itineraries for stop-by-stop preapproval.

Rep. Tlaib seems to have forgotten that she volunteered to adhere to any stipulations set forth by Israel. And Israel granted her permission to visit her family on humanitarian terms. She then refused. Apparently, she wasn’t sincere in her promise to agree to any of Israel’s terms and “not promote boycotts of Israel,” as that very likely wouldn’t fit with her true agenda.

The bottom line is that Israel was justified in banning these two Congresswomen from coming to Israel for their support of the terrorist-affiliated BDS movement.

You can listen to the full episode here.