Muslim congresswoman says she won’t visit Israel

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Israel offered to let U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib into the occupied West Bank to visit her 90-year-old grandmother, but the congresswoman declined Friday because of conditions placed on her visit. “Visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions meant to humiliate me would break my grandmother’s heart,” the Democrat who represents a district in Michigan, said in a statement. Israel did not want Tlaib promoting boycotts of it in protest of the treatment of Palestinians there.

Why is the visit a problem for Israel? On Thursday, Israel blocked Tlaib and Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., from visiting the country for a political trip this weekend. The two Muslim congresswomen support the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement against Israel and have criticized its policies on Palestine. President Donald Trump encouraged Israel not to let the women enter the country, saying they “hate Israel and all Jewish people.”

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Onize Oduah

Onize is WORLD’s Africa reporter and deputy global desk chief. She is a World Journalism Institute graduate and earned a journalism degree from Minnesota State University–Moorhead. Onize resides in Abuja, Nigeria.

@onize_ohiks