‘PROVOCATION’

Israeli Minister on Tlaib’s Canceled Trip: She Hates Israel More Than She Loves Her Grandmother

“I authorized this humanitarian trip, but it turns out that it was a provocation to embarrass Israel,” Interior Minister Aryeh Deri said of the Michigan Democrat.

Reacting to Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) canceling her trip to visit her grandmother in the West Bank, Israel’s interior minister attacked the Muslim congresswoman by claiming she hates Israel. “I authorized this humanitarian trip, but it turns out that it was a provocation to embarrass Israel,” Interior Minister Aryeh Deri reportedly said of Tlaib. “Her hatred for Israel overcomes her love for her grandmother.”

After Benjamin Netanyahu’s government opted to bar Tlaib and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from visiting Israel because of their support for Palestine and the BDS movement, Tlaib was granted permission to visit her grandmother on “humanitarian grounds”—under the condition that she not promote anti-Israel boycotts while in the country. But on Friday morning, Tlaib backed out of the trip, writing: “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 [grandmother] to bow down to their oppressive & racist policies.”