BREAKING: Israel Bars Democratic Congresswomen From Entering Country.

Israel announced Thursday it was barring the entry of two Democratic US congresswomen after Donald Trump encouraged the move, a remarkable step both by the US President and his ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to punish political opponents.

Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely told CNN on Thursday of Israel's decision to ban Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota from entering the country. The announcement came shortly after Trump said Israel would be showing "great weakness" by allowing them to enter the country.

"The plan of the two Congresswomen is only to damage Israel and to foment against Israel," Netanyahu said in a statement following the decision.

The intervention by Trump into Israel's decision-making was extraordinary enough. But the move by Netanyahu's government lent the longstanding US-Israel alliance a new partisan tinge and opened the door for fresh criticism.

Omar responded to the decision Thursday by calling it "an affront" and "an insult to democratic values."

"It is an affront that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, under pressure from President Trump, would deny entry to representatives of the U.S. government," Omar said in a statement. "Trump's Muslim ban is what Israel is implementing, this time against two duly elected Members of Congress."

Omar went on to say, "As a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, it is my job to conduct oversight of foreign aid from the United States of America and to legislate on human rights practices around the world. The irony of the 'only democracy' in the Middle East making such a decision is that it is both an insult to democratic values and a chilling response to a visit by government officials from an allied nation."

Trump has criticized the two lawmakers -- who are the first two Muslim women elected to Congress -- in harsh and sometimes racist terms. But his move to call for their ban in Israel reflects a new chapter in his grudge and a further erosion of presidential norms, which in the past sought to avoid instilling partisanship in foreign affairs.




Source: CNN