Jerusalem (AFP)
Israeli authorities announced on Thursday that two US women could not enter Israel because of their support for the boycott campaign of the Jewish state and following a request by President Donald Trump.
Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, two members of the left wing of the Democratic Party of the United States, were to land this weekend in Tel Aviv to visit the Occupied Palestinian Territories, but the Israeli Ministry of the Interior has decided to bar them from entering in Israel, considering that their visit was part of "anti-Israel boycott activities".
The decision was made "in agreement" with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his Foreign Minister and his Minister of Strategic Affairs, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
"These women are using the international scene to support the BDS associations that are calling for a boycott of Israel," the ministry said, justifying its decision on the basis of an Israeli law banning Israeli entry into the country. supporters of the BDS movement (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions).
This movement calls for Israel's economic, cultural or scientific boycott to protest the occupation of the Palestinian territories.
The Israeli decision to ban the visit of two US women is "scandalous," Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi said in a statement.
Earlier Thursday, Donald Trump ruled that Israel would show "great weakness" if it allowed Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar to visit.
"They hate Israel and all the Jewish people and there is nothing that can be said or done to make them change their minds," the president of the United States tweeted. "They are a shame!"
However, "no country respects the United States and its Congress more than the State of Israel," Netanyahu said in a statement. "Israel is open to visits with one exception, that of people calling and campaigning for its boycott," he added shortly after the announcement of the ban on entry of the two elected.
© 2019 AFP