According to Israeli and US media reports, President Donald Trump has criticized Israel’s decision to allow Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) and Rep. Ilan Omar (D-Minnesota) to enter the Jewish state. The two freshman congresswoman – who are tentatively slated to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories beginning August 18 – both support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, proponents of which advocate cutting off economic, cultural, academic and professional ties with companies, entities or individuals maintaining a relationship with Israel. By contrast, critics contend that BDS is inherently anti-Semitic, as the movement’s indirect call for the creation of one binational state – as opposed to the implementation of the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – means the dissolution of Israel and, by extension, an end to the Jewish people’s right to self-determination. The reports claimed that President Trump expressed his belief to senior advisers that Jerusalem should enforce a 2017 law requiring the Interior Ministry to ban foreign nationals from entering the country if they have a history of supporting BDS. Last month, Israel’s ambassador to Washington said that, “out of respect for…Congress and the great alliance between Israel and America, we would not deny entry to any [US lawmaker].” President Trump previously accused Omar and Tlaib, who is of Palestinian descent, of hating Israel with “unbridled passion.” US House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, who is heading a weeklong trip of over 40 Democratic legislators to Israel, proclaimed Sunday that the White House was treating the reports as “fake news.”
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