There has been a large amount of controversy surrounding the issue of Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, two US congresswomen of colour and of the Islamic faith who have been known for their criticisms of the situation in Israel.
At the beginning of March 2019, there was a large controversy involving Rep. Omar and her comments about the Israel lobby’s influence on American politics, with many outlets and individuals calling her an anti-Semite for pointing out that AIPAC funds politicians. Omar also introduced a bill stating the right to boycott Israel and support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Omar and Tlaib (with a small group of Democrats and one Republican) also voted no on H Res. 246, a pro-Israel text that criticized the BDS movement and reinforced pro-Israeli language and arguments. They along with most of the ‘more progressive’ democrats, with the exception of Ro Khanna, refused to co-sponsor HR1837, an atrocious piece of legislation that allows the President of the US to basically give Israel any weapons they want.
This refusal by Omar and Tlaib to throw their support behind Israeli apartheid led to them being barred from visiting Israel. According to CNN Netanyahu said of this decision:
The plan of the two Congresswomen is only to damage Israel and to foment against Israel.
Benjamin Netanyahu
There was immediate criticism of this move by even many Israel supporters in the Democratic Party. This is likely because Trump supported the ban on the two congresswomen, and thus this gives mainstream Democrats a chance to attack Trump to score political points, without actually advocating for any change in the US relationship with Israel. For example, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi criticised the ban despite saying that she “loves Israel”:
Israel’s denial of entry to Congresswomen Tlaib and Omar is a sign of weakness, and beneath the dignity of the great State of Israel. The President’s statements about the Congresswomen are a sign of ignorance and disrespect, and beneath the dignity of the Office of the President.
Nancy Pelosi
Because Rashida Tlaib is Palestinian American, Israel stated that they would allow her to visit her grandmother in Palestine on ””humanitarian”” grounds so long as it was not used to promote a boycott of Israel. Here is the statement made by Tlaib about this:
The US relationship with Israel will not be changing because of this incident. Trump will continue to back Israel and Netanyahu no matter what. However, I doubt even if the Democrats got into power in 2020, they would make significant changes.
Nancy Pelosi wants to feign outrage over the issue because as I said, it may harm Trump politically, but she has been previously known for dismissing ‘The Squad’ – Omar and Tlaib as well as Ayanna Pressley and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – four young women of colour who are more left-leaning Democrats – as essentially politically irrelevant. Bernie Sanders did suggest that if Israel wants to bar US congresswomen, it should also stop accepting funding from the US:
Of course, Bernie Sanders has a less than perfect record on the issue of Israel himself, as does every American politician. This article praises Sanders for some of his stances relating to Israel, but also acknowledges the flaws of his position. Sanders has historically voted to fund Israel even while making some criticism of the way Israel used that aid. Unless there is a legitimate threat to stop this aid to Israel, they will continue as they are, no matter how many negative statements are made about their apartheid state by Sanders or anyone else. No Democratic presidential candidate has a good position on Israel as far as I have seen: they range from atrocious (someone like Buttigieg) to pretty terrible (Sanders). Of course, all the mainstream Democrats like Israel. In fact, this incident will probably make them end up seeming more anti-Israel than they actually are because they can get in some criticism of Israel that they believe may give them support among young people – without actually in any way challenging the nature of the apartheid regime in Israel.
This situation does represent a larger trend of more progressive Democrats in the party being more sceptical and critical of Israel. Polls have demonstrated that there is less support for Israel than there has been in the past among these voters. Younger people are also more likely to sympathise with the Palestinians than other age groups, which reflects in the fact that Omar and Tlaib are two of the younger people in Congress. Despite this, views in America as a while towards Israel remain positive. Despite this incident essentially leading to some bad PR for Israel, things are unlikely to change until there is a critical mass of people who oppose funding of Israel and support the boycott of the apartheid state.
Phochsian 