After Fighting To Visit Israel, Rep. Tlaib Rejects Invitation; The Politics Behind Rep. Tlaib's Fight To Visit Israel
SMERCONISH: Was this week's showdown over whether to allow America's first two Muslim congresswomen to visit Israel ultimately just an act of provocation to embarrass Israel? Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, both vocal critics of Israel and supporters of the boycott movement known as BDS had initially been granted permission to visit. Then president Trump tweeted that Israel allowing them to visit would -- quote -- "show great weakness" claiming "they hate Israel and all Jewish people." Soon after, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government decided to ban them. Netanyahu sided in Israeli law prohibiting entry into Israel of anybody working to oppose boycotts and called their itinerary -- quote -- unquote -- "one sided" because they were planning to visit only Palestinian sites. Tlaib reapplied citing the humanitarian grounds of visiting her family in the West Bank including what might be her last chance to visit a 90-year-old grandmother. But when Israel reversed its position and said that Tlaib could visit, she pledged in writing if -- she pledged in writing not to promote boycotts against Israel while there she turned down that invitation and called it humiliating. Quote -- "Visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions stands against everything I believe in, fighting against racism and oppression and injustice." Israel's interior minister Aryeh Deri who had approved the visit called her actions a provocation saying -- quote -- "I approved her request as a gesture of goodwill on a humanitarian basis. But it was just a provocative request aimed at bashing the state of Israel. Apparently her hate for Israel overcomes her love for her grandmother." Joining me now to discuss is journalist and foreign policy analyst Rula Jebreal. Rula, there are some who look at this and say, aha, if it were really about visiting the grandmother, she'd be making the trip. What are your thoughts?</s>RULA JEBREAL, FOREIGN POLICY ANALYST: Look, it's the conditionality of that visit. I think if you're a liberal Democratic state you would allow a duly elected representative of Congress to visit regardless. I mean, what are you trying to hide? The fact that the visit was banned in the first place it reflects on this trajectory where Israel is heading where it looked like South Africa or it looks like the Soviet Union where you have to ban people because you're hiding the violence of the occupation. For a country that received billions of dollars, I think they should -- they owe more respect to Congress. They've been very supportive of them. And this is an extension of the globalization of the Muslim ban. It's really a disgrace that the president of the United States is lobbying a foreign country against a sitting member -- two sitting members of Congress simply because they are black and Muslim. I find it really outrageous. I'm speaking now, Michael, as an Israeli citizen. We want an Israel -- a Democratic Israeli state that doesn't look and judge people and define them by their ethnicity or what they say, their criticisms, or their gender, or even their color. Because this is what's happening in Israel today. We have a government that has been promoting racist policy against anybody that is not Jewish. This is the opposite of the founding father of Israel envisioned for the Israeli state. I mean, the founding father in the declaration of independence talk about equal rights for all inhabitants regardless of religion, their ethnicity and their skin tone. And this promise is being betrayed by the president of the United States and above all by the prime minister -- sitting prime minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu.</s>SMERCONISH: Rula, a large part of this conversation is about the BDS movement. It's a subject that came up last night on Bill Maher's program. Here's part of what he had to say --</s>BILL MAHER, HOST, "REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER": BDS is a bull shit purity test by people who want to appear woke but actually slept through history class. I think it's very shallow thinking that the Jews are in Israel, mostly white, and the Palestinians are browner, so they must be innocent and correct and the Jews must be wrong.</s>SMERCONISH: Does Bill Maher have a point?</s>JEBREAL: Well, Bill Maher has been banning Muslims from his show for a while especially Muslim who are critical of his views. As an atheist who claimed to profess to be an atheist himself, to be endorsing some kind of -- some kind of a racist government that view people and define people based on their skin tone and color, for me it's not shocking because it's -- I think Bill Maher and any other hypocrites don't understand that if you advocate for freedom, equality, morality, and legality, you cannot say, oh, we're fine that Palestinians can live under military occupation, but we are not fine that in America we have Donald Trump who is trying to import that kind of system to the United States.</s>SMERCONISH: But part of the problem -- part of the problem is that --</s>JEBREAL: If Bill Maher is not fine with --</s>SMERCONISH: Part of the problem is that each side is claiming the moral high ground. In fact, Catherine (ph), put on the screen the Netanyahu quote. Because, you know, each side claims that they're on the righteous side. And what Netanyahu said in this quote is --</s>JEBREAL: There's no both sides, Michael. There's no both sides --</s>SMERCONISH: Just -- you can respond. But here it is. "Israel is open to all critics and any criticism with one exception, the law in Israel that prohibits entry to people calling and advocating for boycotting the country, just like in other democracies that bar entry to those who they believe will do harm to their nation." You get the final word. But respond to that, and then I have to leave you.</s>JEBREAL: Well, let's put it this way, Bibi Netanyahu is a liar. And another thing that I want to say, when you have Richard Spencer who was a white nationalist say that he's a white Zionist and you are standing with that and he views Israel as -- as the kind of state that he wants to import elsewhere where you have a master race and everybody else is treated as subhuman, if you subscribe to that in Israel or in Iraq or in South Africa, then you shouldn't be surprised that we elect people like Donald Trump and his ilks. Either you -- there's no both sides. It's like saying the neo-Nazis are -- there's fine people on both sides. There's no both sides. Either you stand with democracy, equality, and legality and human rights, or against it. So you have to choose. I stand with the government</s>SMERCONISH: Rula --</s>JEBREAL: Any government that stands for equality, morality, and legality. Anything else, it's really a joke.</s>SMERCONISH: Rula, thank you. Appreciate your being here. I was simply trying to make the point that both sides claims --</s>JEBREAL: Thank you, Michael.</s>SMERCONISH: -- the other that seeks their destruction. Thank you. I want to remind you, answer the survey question at Smerconish.com. "Would an economic downturn cause President Trump's base to abandon him?" Still to come, should consumers not patronize a company if they disagree with the owner's politics? And if so, where will that kind of thinking lead us?