Damned if you do, damned if you don't

Submitted by Concerned humanist (United States), Aug 22, 2019 at 19:45

Dr Pipes, its a classic Islamist trap. See this detailed answer on Quora for more details (entire answer is pasted below and link included). Not affiliated with the author of this answer in any way.

Source: https://qr.ae/TWrBxV

1. Rashida Tlaib and Omar turned down an invitation to travel to Israel with 70 other congresspeople. Those representatives were going to meet with Israeli officials as well as Palestinian officials, and have a chance to see the situation there for themselves. The Democrats in the group met with Abbas (who declined to meet with the Republicans.)

2. She and Omar instead planned their own visit. Israel said they would allow it.

3. THEN the itinerary was revealed. It opened by refusing to acknowledge the existence of Israel, calling it a trip to Palestine. The trip was being financed by Miftah, an organization that supports BDS, has celebrated the murder of Israelis, and has claimed that Jews use the blood of Christian children in their Passover matzoh. Items in the itinerary suggested the purpose of the trip was to agitate against Israel. Explaining his decision to disallow the visit, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the itinerary "reveals that the sole purpose of their visit is to harm Israel and increase incitement against it." Israel has a standing law that says BDS activists can be barred from entry into the country. Under that law, permission to visit was rescinded.

4. Tlaib said she had a 90 year old grandmother in the West Bank that she wanted to visit. She said it might be her last chance to ever do so. Netanyahu said she could apply for a humanitarian visa. In the application letter, she promised not to engage in political agitation while she was there. Netanyahu immediately approved the visa.

5. She then announced she was not going to visit her 90 year old grandmother after all. Evidently it wasn't really all that important.

6. Yesterday she made a public statement claiming that Israel would not allow her to visit her grandmother, which was a bold-faced lie. (I saw that speech myself, so I can speak for this being true.) This, combined with other elements of the story, have led many to believe that the entire visit was a set-up, designed to put Israel in a damned-if-you-do-and-damned-if-you-don't position, so that Tlaib and Omar could make Netanyahu look bad no matter what he did. Why else refuse to join their fellow Democratic congresspeople when they visited?

7. Even many who supported her up until the final act of this little drama have responded with disgust to her refusal to accept the visa to visit her grandmother. As one commentator put it, "Her hatred of Israel is more powerful than her love for her family." She is still welcome to visit the West Bank for that purpose, subject to the conditions she herself offered.

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