Israel bans entry to outspoken US congresswomen

Israel said Thursday that it will bar two Democratic congresswomen from entering the country ahead of a planned visit over their support for a Palestinian-led boycott movement, a decision announced shortly after President Donald Trump tweeted that it would "show great weakness" to allow them in.

The move to bar Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota from visiting the close American ally appeared to be unprecedented, and marked a deep foray by Israel into America's bitterly polarised politics.

It is also a sharp escalation of Israel's campaign against the international boycott movement.

Interior Minister Aryeh Deri issued a statement saying that after consultations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials he decided not to allow Tlaib and Omar to enter because of "their boycott activities against Israel."
"They hate Israel & all Jewish people, & there is nothing that can be said or done to change their minds." He went on to call the two congresswomen "a disgrace."
The country passed a law permitting a ban on entry to any activist who "knowingly issues a call for boycotting Israel."
The American Jewish Congress said that despite Omar and Tlaib's planned "propaganda exercise," it believed that "the costs in the US of barring the entry of two members of Congress may prove even higher than the alternative."
Former US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro wrote on Twitter that the decision to bar their entry "harms Israel's standing in the US, boosts BDS."
Israeli lawmaker Ayman Odeh, leader of the Joint List of Arab parties, criticised the move, writing that "Israel has always banned Palestinians from their land and separated us from other Palestinians, but this time the Palestinian is a US Congresswoman."