House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday criticized Israel’s decision not to allow Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) to visit, calling the move a “sign of weakness.”
“Israel’s denial of entry to Congresswomen Tlaib and Omar is a sign of weakness and beneath the dignity of the great State of Israel,” Pelosi said in a statement.
Pelosi also blasted President Trump’s tweet advising Israel to deny the congresswomen entry.
{mosads}“The President’s statements about the Congresswomen are a sign of ignorance and disrespect, and beneath the dignity of the Office of the President,” she said.
Pelosi has had her differences with Tlaib and Omar, who make up half of the so-called squad of progressive freshman congresswomen along with Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), particularly after the four were the only House Democrats to vote against a Democratic-backed border security bill.
However, when Trump tweeted earlier in the summer that the four congresswomen, all of whom are American citizens, should “go back” where they came from, Pelosi publicly backed them, introducing a successful resolution to condemn Trump’s tweets.
Several other House Democrats and presidential candidates, representing both the same progressive flank of the party as the two congresswomen and its more centrist wing, have also condemned the decision and Trump’s backing of it.
House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), who is Jewish, said the move would only strengthen “those who seek to create a wedge between our two countries.” Democratic Policy and Communications Committee Co-Chairman David Cicilline (D-R.I.), who is also Jewish, called it “a grave mistake by the Israeli government,” adding, “Democracy is about accepting that others don’t always share your views and respecting the right to disagree.”
“Israel doesn’t advance its case as a tolerant democracy or unwavering US ally by barring elected members of Congress from visiting because of their political views,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who is running for president, tweeted. “This would be a shameful, unprecedented move.”