After Being Banned, Israeli Interior Minister Approves Tlaib Request to Visit Grandmother, Tlaib Declines
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri (Shas) on Friday approved US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib’s request to visit Israel in order to see her elderly grandmother.
On Thursday, Israel announced that Democratic Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib will not be allowed to enter Israel due to their support of BDS.
On Thursday night, Tlaib sent a request to Israel’s Ministry of Interior to visit her “Palestinian” grandmother on humanitarian grounds.
In her request, Tlaib wrote: “I would like to request admittance to Israel in order to visit my relatives, and specifically my grandmother, who is in her 90s and lives in Beit Ur al-Fouqa. This could be my last opportunity to see her. I will respect any restrictions and will not promote boycotts against Israel during my visit. Thank you, Rashida Tlaib.”
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) had recommended approving Tlaib’s personal request, “in light of her commitment to respect Israeli law and not to promote boycotts against us.”
On Friday morning, she decided against a visit, tweeting: “My sity wanted to pick figs w/ me. I broke down reading this & worry every single day after I won for my family’s safety. My cousin was texting me which photo of @IlhanMN & I they should put on a welcoming poster when I heard the news. I couldn’t tell her.”
“When I won, it gave the Palestinian people hope that someone will finally speak the truth about the inhumane conditions. I can’t allow the State of Israel to take away that light by humiliating me & use my love for my sity to bow down to their oppressive & racist policies,” she added.
Tlaib concluded, “Silencing me & treating me like a criminal is not what she wants for me. It would kill a piece of me. I have decided that visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions stands against everything I believe in–fighting against racism, oppression & injustice.”
When I won, it gave the Palestinian people hope that someone will finally speak the truth about the inhumane conditions. I can’t allow the State of Israel to take away that light by humiliating me & use my love for my sity to bow down to their oppressive & racist policies. https://t.co/OYIwExV0ga
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) August 16, 2019
Silencing me & treating me like a criminal is not what she wants for me. It would kill a piece of me. I have decided that visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions stands against everything I believe in–fighting against racism, oppression & injustice. https://t.co/z5t5j3qk4H
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) August 16, 2019
