Citing ‘oppressive conditions,’ Rep. Tlaib signals she won’t visit Israel after entry ban reversal

US congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) has indicated that she will not travel to Israel to visit relatives, after Tel Aviv reversed its earlier decision to deny her entry. The US lawmaker had requested that the ban be lifted.

In a letter to Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, Tlaib asked that she be allowed to visit her elderly grandmother, who lives in the West Bank, promising that she would “respect any restrictions and will not promote boycotts against Israel.”

Deri granted her request but, hours later, Tlaib apparently had a change of heart.

“Silencing me & treating me like a criminal is not what [my grandmother] wants for me. It would kill a piece of me. I have decided that visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions stands against everything I believe in – fighting against racism, oppression & injustice,” the freshman congresswoman tweeted on Friday.

She added that her election to Congress “gave the Palestinain people hope that someone will finally speak the truth” about their treatment by Israel. She added that she wouldn’t allow the Jewish state to “humiliate” her.

Tlaib’s travel plans to Israel made headlines after US President Donald Trump tweeted on Thursday that Tel Aviv should ban her from entering the country, accusing her of hating “Israel and all Jewish people.”

Tlaib and her Capitol Hill colleague, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota), were told in July that they would be permitted to travel to Israel, despite their support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Trump’s tweet then reversed that decision – at least temporarily.