A.G. Gancarski
U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz, freshly back from Israel on a bipartisan trip, didn’t hold back about two colleagues who didn’t make it.
Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib were barred from entering the country after pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump.
Though Israel offered Tlaib entry to see her grandmother on the West Bank, she ultimately decided not to make the trip.
The congressional delegation’s trip was sponsored by a subsidiary of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, which supported the right of Tlaib and Omar to visit Israel despite being BDS supporters (BDS means Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions, against the country of Israel itself).
Waltz shared that position, he said, noting they were invited to come on a bipartisan trip that included leadership from both parties.
“They may have had issues,” Waltz said of the sponsorship.
Had they made the trip, they would have met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while also getting “perspective” from members of the Palestinian Authority and Israelis from across the political spectrum.
“It wasn’t a Likud trip,” Waltz noted when asked.
Waltz observed that the proposed Tlaib/Omar itinerary eschewed meetings with anyone in the Israeli government, “only to see Palestinians.”
The Congressman, a former Green Beret and top assistant to then-Vice President Dick Cheney, questioned the Democratic duo’s intellectual consistency.
“If this was truly an effort to support Muslims,” Waltz wondered why they weren’t similarly outraged about Chinese oppression of Uighur Muslims and the genocide against the Rohingya in Burma.
The Congressman suggested their position was “anti-Semitic.”
Republican colleagues of Waltz’s in Congress have been divided on this issue.
Sen. Marco Rubio said banning the entry of Tlaib and Omar was a bad play. Sen. Rick Scott took the opposite view, saying it was Israel’s prerogative.
On Monday, Florida Politics will feature an interview with Waltz on the Israel trip at large.
Waltz, a first-term Republican representing the Daytona-centric 6th Congressional District, will discuss Israel’s role in the region and the interplay between his trip and that of state officials this Spring.
6 comments
DumpTrump2020!
August 16, 2019 at 2:07 pm
Netanyahu is racist against Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims, and, apparently, Catholics, too – just as Trump is racist against black and brown people. Netanyahu has clearly made it known that his dictum is “Israel is a state for Jews only” – not all that different from Hitler’s “Arayan Supremacy” or Trump’s “White Nationalism”. Both of these rightwingnuts are clearly fascistic in their uber authoritarian nationalism. Ppfftt to both!
gary
August 17, 2019 at 6:14 pm
You are insane!
Sebastian R Fernandez
August 16, 2019 at 3:27 pm
“The congressional delegation… trip sponsored by a subsidiary ofAIPAC, which supported the right of Tlaib and Omar to visit Israel despite being BDS supporters”
I have a major objectivity issue with this quote because frankly, its a half truth/lie.
AIPAC did not initially support congresswoman Tlaib and Omar’s trip there. They were denied, which is why they werent on the trip with bipartisan lawmakers. They would only be allowed to visit on humanitarian grounds, A.K.A. to see family.
How does your quote accurately reflect that reality if you didn’t include the information that while they were, in the end, extended an invitation; it was initially denied, then reinstated after the supposed trip for other government officials. And they would not be given the same treatment by other members able to meet with Israeli government officials?
Seems eerily similar to a lie by omission to me.
gary
August 17, 2019 at 6:16 pm
This news site is just like CNN #FakeNews
Sonja Fitch
August 16, 2019 at 4:56 pm
Omg. Peace. But of course racist sexist Trump chose to be an ahole. Peace starts with all things just a visit. Trump doesnot care as long as the light shines on him
gary
August 17, 2019 at 6:20 pm
Trump can be an a-hole, but so can anyone! I think of him as the greatest president in my 55 year lifetime! His presidency will be studied for years! He has accomplished so much!
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