* Women had planned visit to Jerusalem, West Bank
* Both back pro-Palestinian movement to boycott Israel
* Israeli law allows banning entry of boycott supporters
* Trump had urged Israel to bar visit
JERUSALEM/WASHINGTON - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday barred U.S. Democratic congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar from making a planned trip to Israel, shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump called on his ally not to let them in.
Tlaib and Omar, the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, are members of their party's progressive wing and sharp critics both of Trump and of Israel's policy toward the Palestinians.
The moves, which were immediately condemned by many Democratic leaders in the United States as well as Palestinians, could help whip up support among Trump and Netanyahu's conservative voter bases as they head into election campaigns.
Israel holds a national election on Sept. 17 and Trump faces re-election in November 2020.
Tlaib and Omar have voiced support for the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement over Israel's policies toward Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Under Israeli law, BDS backers can be denied entry to Israel.
Omar called Thursday's decision an "affront" and "an insult to democratic values."
Israel had initially chosen to allow the visit. A source who took part in consultations Netanyahu held with cabinet members and advisers on Wednesday told Reuters that Israel backtracked due to pressure from Trump. The pressure was reported by the Axios news site on Saturday but denied by the White House.
"In a discussion held two weeks ago all the officials were in favor of letting them in but, after Trump's pressure, they reversed the decision," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
In a tweet on Thursday, Trump wrote: "It would show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep. Tlaib to visit ... They are a disgrace!"
Asked if he had spoken to Netanyahu about the planned visit, Trump told reporters: "I don't want to comment about who I spoke to, but I think my social media statement pretty well speaks for itself."
"But I did speak to people over there," he added.
Trump's request appeared to contravene a U.S. government policy that says the United States seeks "equal treatment and freedom to travel" for all U.S. citizens regardless of ethnicity. It says those denied entry should be given a written explanation by Israel.
Trump has in recent months accused Tlaib, Omar and two other first-term Democratic congresswomen of color - dubbed "the Squad" - of hostility to Israel in a barrage condemned by critics as racist and widely seen as a way to drum up votes for 2020.
Omar is a favorite target. At a recent rally in North Carolina, supporters chanted "send her back" after Trump falsely accused her of supporting al Qaeda.
The 37-year-old lawmaker who represents a Minnesota congressional district immigrated to the United States from Somalia as a child. U.S.-born Tlaib, 43, has roots in the West Bank.
Omar has been criticized for statements critical of Israel, including a 2012 tweet referring to the country’s "evil doings" and a tweet this year saying that support for Israel is all about money. Omar has apologized for such statements.
Israel's ambassador in the United States, Ron Dermer, had said last month that Tlaib and Omar would be let in, out of respect for the U.S. Congress and the U.S.-Israeli relationship.
Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of the liberal Jewish advocacy group J Street, said Trump's strategy was about appealing to his conservative base, which includes evangelicals hawkish on Israel.
"This not a strategy that is primarily aimed at the Jewish community," Ben-Ami said. "It’s become another culture war issue."
'DENY ISRAEL'S LEGITIMACY'
No date had been formally announced for the congresswomen's trip, but sources familiar with the planning said it could begin over the weekend. They had planned to tour East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war, which Palestinians want for a state.
Netanyahu said that Israel had the utmost respect for Congress but that Tlaib and Omar were promoting legislation calling for boycotts against Israel.
"Only a few days ago, we received their itinerary for their visit in Israel, which revealed that they planned a visit whose sole objective is to strengthen the boycott against us and deny Israel’s legitimacy," Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu could easily feel he owes Trump a favor after some of the U.S. president's decisions, such as recognizing Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights, withdrawing from the Iran nuclear accord and moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
However, denying entry to elected U.S. officials was likely to further strain relations between Netanyahu, who has highlighted his close ties with Trump in his current re-election campaign, and the Democratic leadership in Congress.
"Israel doesn't advance its case as a tolerant democracy or unwavering U.S. ally by barring elected members of Congress from visiting because of their political views. This would be a shameful, unprecedented move," Democratic presidential hopeful and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren said on Twitter.
U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, the Senate's top Democrat, said in a statement: "Denying entry to members of the United States Congress is a sign of weakness, not strength. It will only hurt the U.S.-Israeli relationship and support for Israel in America."
Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestinian official with the Palestine Liberation Organization and founder of Miftah, a West Bank-based nongovernmental organization that is co-sponsoring the trip, called the decision to block it "an affront to the American people and their representatives."
"This ban is a clear case of discrimination and hostility based on political views and ethnic background, deserving of moral indignation and unequivocal condemnation in Palestine and the United States," Ashrawi said in a statement.
The Palestinians have broken off diplomatic ties with the Trump administration over what they see as its heavily pro-Israel bias.
Tlaib's grandmother and extended family live in the Palestinian village of Beit Ur Al-Fauqa.
"We were surprised today that they banned Rashida. It is unfair and racist that they banned her from visiting her country Palestine and her family in Palestine," said her uncle, Bassam Tlaib.
Netanyahu said that if Tlaib submitted a request to visit family on humanitarian grounds, Israel would consider it as long as she promised not to promote a boycott against Israel.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump renewed his attacks Sunday on four Democratic congresswomen he launched xenophobic tweets against last week, demanding they apologize "for the horrible (hateful) things they have said."
"I don't believe the four Congresswomen are capable of loving our Country," Trump tweeted of ethnic-minority first-term Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar and Ayanna Pressley.
"They should apologize to America (and Israel) for the horrible (hateful) things they have said. They are destroying the Democrat Party, but are weak & insecure people who can never destroy our great Nation!" the president tweeted.
The comments come a week after Trump sparked a firestorm of outrage when he attacked the left-leaning lawmakers in a series of tweets, saying they should "go back" to their countries of origin.
The group -- all American citizens, three of whom were born in the United States -- are of Hispanic, Arab, Somali and African-American descent.
In a rare move, Trump was rebuked by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives on Tuesday for "racist comments" against the women, who are known as the "Squad."
The following day chants of "Send her back!" broke out at the president's "Make America Great Again" rally in Greenville, North Carolina, when he again attacked the women.
Trump claimed falsely that Omar had said the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda made her "proud" and he described the congresswomen as "left-wing ideologues (who) see our nation as a force of evil."
SPEECH PAUSED FOR CHANTS
Trump later said there was "great energy" at the rally but claimed he was not pleased by the taunts.
"I was not happy when I heard that chant," he said. "I didn't like that they did it, and I started speaking quickly" to move on with his speech.
Television footage showed, however, that Trump let the chants continue for more than 13 seconds, only resuming speaking as they died down.
Analysts say the president's performance in Greenville demonstrated that without a Democratic presidential candidate to focus on yet, he plans to make inflammatory attacks on the Squad a centerpiece of his 2020 reelection strategy.
Two days after the rally he falsely accused the congresswomen of using the phrase "evil Jews," and Ocasio-Cortez in particular of calling Americans "garbage."
Several of the Democratic presidential hopefuls who plan to run against him and a few Republicans have urged Trump to tone down the rhetoric.
Ron Johnson, a Republican senator from Wisconsin and the chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said Sunday he didn't agree that the congresswomen were incapable of loving their country.
"I find it unfortunate so many parts of our public debate are getting stuck inside a racial framework when what I would like to see is us moving toward that color-blind society," he told CNN's "State of the Union."
'DIVIDE OUR COUNTRY'
But the president has made it clear -- despite the risk of inflaming racial tensions and widening the partisan divide -- that he believes he has latched onto a winning strategy.
Trump tapped into grievances among white blue-collar and rural Americans to eke out a narrow victory in 2016, winning 57 percent of white voters while his rival Hillary Clinton won 37 percent.
Democratic congressman Elijah Cummings, the African-American chairman of the House Oversight Committee, told ABC's "This Week" that the "send her back" chants reminded him of painful experiences fighting segregation in the 1960s.
"It's extremely divisive and I don't think this is becoming of the president of the United States of America, the leader of the entire world. We can do better than that."
He added that the congresswomen targeted by Trump "love their country" and work hard to move closer to the "perfect union that our founding fathers talked about."
He said he had "no doubt" Trump was a racist, a charge rejected by White House senior policy advisor Stephen Miller.
"I fundamentally disagree with the view that if you criticize somebody, and they happen to be a different color skin, that that makes it racial criticism," Miller told "Fox News Sunday."
Senator Corey Booker, a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, meanwhile told CBS's "Face the Nation" that he was accusing Trump of being "worse than" a racist.
"He is somebody that is using race like a weapon to divide our country against itself," Booker said.
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source: news.abs-cbn.com
WASHINGTON, United States - Former first lady Michelle Obama added her voice Friday to the Democratic outcry following President Donald Trump's attack on four ethnic minority congresswomen, saying "there's a place for all of us."
"What truly makes our country great is its diversity... Whether we are born here or seek refuge here, there's a place for all of us," Obama tweeted, without mentioning Trump.
"We must remember it's not my America or your America. It's our America."
Trump has come under intense fire after he attacked four first-term Democratic congresswomen known as the "Squad."
In a rare move, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives on Tuesday rebuked Trump for "racist comments" after he said the four should "go back" to their countries of origin if they are not happy in the United States.
But chants of "Send her back!" directed at Somali-born congresswoman Ilhan Omar broke out at Trump's "Make America Great Again" rally in Greenville, North Carolina on Wednesday night.
Trump claimed to reporters in the Oval Office the following day that he was not pleased by the taunts and attempted to cut them short.
Television footage, however, showed he let the chant continue for more than 10 seconds before he resumed speaking.
"Those are incredible people. Those are incredible patriots," Trump told reporters outside the White House on Friday when asked about the chants.
"She's lucky to be where she is, let me tell you," he added about Omar.
The first-term lawmakers -- all but one of whom, Omar, were born in the United States -- are of Hispanic, Arab, Somali and African-American descent.
Some Republicans have urged Trump to tone down the rhetoric, but the president has made it clear that attacks on the "Squad" will be a centerpiece of his 2020 re-election strategy -- despite the risk of inflaming racial tensions and widening the partisan divide.
Omar responded to the chants by condemning Trump's "racist remarks" and branding him a "fascist."
The president's "nightmare is seeing a Somali immigrant refugee rise to Congress," she told supporters when she returned home to Minnesota Thursday night.
"We are going to continue to be a nightmare to this president, because his policies are a nightmare to us," she said through a megaphone to the cheering crowd at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
WASHINGTON - Donald Trump's spokeswoman Sarah Sanders defended the president Sunday against accusations that he was inciting violence toward a Muslim congresswoman after he tweeted a video of her spliced with footage of the 9/11 attacks.
The White House's decision to double down on Ilhan Omar came as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the country's most powerful Democrat, said she had spoken to authorities about her colleague's safety and urged Trump to delete the clip.
Omar has been at the center of an escalating row after a clip emerged of her characterizing the deadliest attack on US soil as "some people did something."
On Friday, Trump tweeted a video that juxtaposed the snippet, which Omar's fellow Democrats say was taken out of context, with images of the hijacked planes used in the attacks crashing into the Twin Towers that once dominated New York's skyline. Menacing music accompanies Omar's words.
The clip, which had been viewed more than 9.4 million times as of Sunday afternoon, ends with the words: "SEPTEMBER 11 2001 WE REMEMBER."
Prominent Democrats including Beto O'Rourke, Kamala Harris and Omar's fellow first-time Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were quick to rush to Omar's defense, accusing the president and other Republicans of deliberately de-contextualizing her remarks and endangering her life.
Sanders, however, defended Trump, telling ABC television's "This Week" that "the president is wishing no ill will and certainly not violence towards anyone."
But, she added: "It's absolutely abhorrent the comments she continues to make and has made and (Democrats) look the other way.
"I find her comments to be absolutely disgraceful and unbefitting of a member of Congress and I think that it's a good thing that the president is calling her out for those comments, and the big question is why aren't Democrats doing it as well."
Pelosi took time out from an official trip to issue a strong statement urging Trump to take the clip down.
"Following the president's tweet, I spoke with the sergeant-at-arms to ensure that Capitol Police are conducting a security assessment to safeguard Congresswoman Omar, her family and her staff," she said.
"The president's words weigh a ton, and his hateful and inflammatory rhetoric creates real danger. President Trump must take down his disrespectful and dangerous video."
OMAR HITS BACK
Omar has mounted her own trenchant fight back, tweeting Saturday: "No one person - no matter how corrupt, inept, or vicious – can threaten my unwavering love for America.
"I stand undeterred to continue fighting for equal opportunity in our pursuit of happiness for all Americans," she said.
The controversy arose after Omar delivered a 20-minute address to the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) shortly after the New Zealand mosque attacks in March.
"For far too long, we have lived with the discomfort of being a second-class citizen and, frankly, I'm tired of it, and every single Muslim in this country should be tired of it," she said.
"CAIR was founded after 9/11," she added, "because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties."
The civil rights group was in fact founded in 1994 but grew significantly after 2001.
The speech did not initially receive significant attention until the snippet in question was highlighted weeks later by controversial Australian personality Mohammad Tawhidi who refers to himself as the "Imam of Peace."
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source: news.abs-cbn.com
