Radio Recap: Terror Ties Behind Squad’s Botched Israel Trip

By 

Jordan Sekulow

|
August 16, 2019

3 min read

Israel

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The truth uncovered about Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) botched trip to Israel and the terror ties to group that was sponsoring the trip.

Today on the broadcast, we discussed Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib’s decision not to travel to Israel, after the Israeli officials offered to let her come visit her family, and the revelation that the Palestinian group sponsoring her trip with Rep. Omar had ties to terrorism.

Israel gave Rep. Tlaib an option. It told Tlaib if she really wanted to visit her aging grandmother, submit a formal request to come with the intent of spending time with family. And she did in a letter, volunteering to agree to any terms placed on her visit, including not publicly supporting or endorsing the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement:

“I would like to request admittance to Israel in order to visit my relatives, and specifically my grandmother, who is in her 90s and lives in Beit Ur al-Fouqa.

This could be my last opportunity to see her. I will respect any restrictions and will not promote boycotts against Israel during my visit."

Israel being a true humanitarian country granted her request. But then today Tlaib changed course again, showing her true intention behind traveling to the region, tweeting that she would not go if she had to abide by Israeli laws regarding supporting boycotts:

Silencing me & treating me like a criminal is not what she 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.

If Rep. Tlaib truly just wanted to see her grandmother and “pick figs” with her, as she claimed, she could be doing that right now. Her decision makes it seem her trip was less about quality time with family. It was about bringing more attention to BDS and her hatred for Israel.

Now it has been revealed that Tlaib and Omar’s planned trip to Israel was organized by a terrorist-sympathizing group called Miftah that supports the BDS movement.

The trip was sponsored by the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue & Democracy, better known as Miftah.

Despite billing itself as a peaceful organization dedicated to promoting Palestine’s democratic institutions, Miftah for years has carried notable ties to terrorist sympathizers, has openly accused Israel of atrocities and supports the boycott of Israeli products.

As reports have shown, Miftah’s own founder and its website openly justify, if not support deadly terrorist activity:

Hanan Ashrawi, the founder and chair of the Miftah board of directors, brushed off Palestinian terrorist attacks during a January 2017 interview by saying they are “seen by the people as resistance. And you cannot somehow adopt the language of either the international community or the occupier by describing anybody who resists as terrorists.”

Miftah’s own website describes Wafa Idrees, a female suicide bomber, as one of a few young women who chose to “join the ranks of the resistance movement.” Idrees detonated herself in January 2002, killing an 81-year-old and wounding another 150 Israelis.

And this is who Rep. Tlaib and Rep. Omar would align themselves with.  This is the group paying for and organizing their trip to Israel. What was the true agenda? Why would Reps. Tlaib and Omar decline to join their fellow Members of Congress on an official trip to Israel to meet with top Israeli and Palestinian officials?

You can listen to the full episode here.