Democrats Hope To Punish Dermer And Friedman
Senior Democratic members of Congress have reportedly been in discussion about ways to condemn Israel’s envoy to Washington, Ron Dermer, and the Trump administration’s ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, over their support for the Israeli government’s decision to deny entry to Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar.
Unmentioned in the report is any talk of condemning Omar and Tlaib for their support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement, which seeks to destroy Israel and was the very reason for the ban of the two lawmakers in the first place.
This is the same Democratic Party that shamefully abandoned plans to pass a House resolution last March specifically condemning anti-Semitism even though the resolution was in direct response to Omar’s repeated use of anti-Semitic tropes.
Eventually, in a move described by the Associated Press as an “embarrassing misstep for Democratic leaders,” House Democrats last March passed a watered-down resolution generally condemning “hateful expressions of intolerance” instead of a strong statement against anti-Semitism. The Republican-controlled Senate responded to the Democrat’s inexcusable failure by immediately unanimously passing a resolution explicitly condemning anti-Semitism.
Now the Democrats are back at it, according to a report in McClatchy. The news outlet cited “two sources familiar with the discussions” as saying that “about a dozen lawmakers, including senior Jewish members, began discussions on Friday morning over ways to communicate a ‘deep lack of confidence and trust’” in Dermer and Friedman.
Their alleged crimes?
Friedman expressed support for Israel’s decision to ban the two extremist Congressional leaders from a trip clearly designed to be an anti-Israel propaganda tour aimed at promoting BDS, which wages economic warfare against Israel’s economy and is allied with terrorist organizations.
Dermer, for his part, is reportedly being singled out because a few weeks prior to Israel’s decision to reject Omar and Tlaib’s trip the Israeli ambassador had assured House Majority Leader Hoyer that “out of respect for the U.S. Congress and the great alliance between Israel and America, we would not deny entry to any Member of Congress into Israel.”
Never mind that Dermer made those statements before Israel obtained the two anti-Semitic lawmakers’ itinerary showing Omar and Tlaib’s intention to use the trip to harm Israel’s reputation and support boycott Israel ideology.
Ever since Israel’s decision to nix the hostile visit, Democrats have been outdoing themselves in defending Omar and Tlaib and criticizing Israel for a ban that is in keeping with a law that allows the country to deny passage to BDS leaders given that the movement acts to delegitimize the Jewish state. And make no mistake about it, Omar and Tlaib are the leaders of that movement in Congress. Only a few weeks ago, the duo introduced a Congressional resolution aimed at supporting the anti-Semitic BDS Movement.
Democrats may want to do some soul searching about what is driving them to align against the Mideast’s only democracy and instead side with anti-Semites who promote the boycott of Jews.
Hanan Ashrawi Behind Visit By Tlaib And Omar
An organization run by notorious Palestinian extremist and Israel boycott defender Hanan Ashrawi co-sponsored and organized the planned visit to Israel by Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar.
The cancelled visit was partially organized and co-sponsored by Miftah, an anti-Israel organization headed by Ashrawi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee and supporter of BDS.
Ashrawi claimed the trip was supposed to be a way for Omar and Tlaib “to engage with the Palestinian people directly and to see things on the ground.”
NGO Monitor, a watchdog on extremist nonprofits, notes that Miftah has accused Israel of committing “massacres,” “apartheid,” “summary executions” of Palestinian youth and “Judaizing” Jerusalem. It has also accused Israel of “ethnic-cleansing of Palestinian-Israeli Arabs.”
Ashrawi was a political leader of the violent First Palestinian Intifada and served as deputy to late PLO leader and arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat. She is known for espousing anti-Israel conspiracy theories and attempting to justify Palestinian “resistance” against the Jewish state.
In a 2001 speech to the World Conference Against Racism, Ashrawi referred to the creation of Israel as a “Nakba” or “catastrophe.”
At the height of the deadly Palestinian intifada campaign of suicide bombings and shootings, Ashrawi wrote the following in October 2001 of the carnage: “I see it as an expression of the will to resist, of the spirit of a people that will not succumb to coercion and subjugation. … Popular protests and acts of resistance — political, human resistance — are necessary to demonstrate the people’s will.”
The term “resistance” is usually used by the Palestinians as a euphemism for deadly terrorist attacks targeting Israelis.
Ashrawi participated in the political leadership of the First Palestinian Intifada, which started in 1987. She served on the Intifada Political Committee until 1993.
Michael Savage Banned From UK
While many in the news media have been advocating for Omar and Tlaib’s alleged plight, the media has been largely silent on the United Kingdom’s ban on talk radio star Michael Savage – silence that Savage told this reporter he sees as evidence the press has “no standards.”
After she was banned, Tlaib asked Israel to allow her into the West Bank to visit her 90-year-old grandmother. Israel quickly approved the trip but Tlaib relented, claiming she won’t see her relatives because of Israel’s “oppressive” and “racist” policies.
“Maybe if I said I wanted to visit my grandmother the U.K. would let me in?” quipped Savage. He was out on a banned list in 2009 along with radical Islamic terrorists and neo-Nazis with the country using selective quotes to claim Savage was a threat.
“Tlaib is a known Jew-hating, Israel hating, America hating Palestinian radical. I have only the utmost respect for the English People and their great traditions. I never threatened to fire up crowds!” Savage told this reporter. “I am not a front for the Muslim sisterhood. I am not someone who hates Britain. I am an American patriot.”