Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar announced Wednesday that she would boycott President Isaac Herzog’s address to a joint session of Congress next week, likely starting a trend among other progressives in her party.
“There’s no way I’m going to hell,” Omar wrote in a Twitter thread. which lists about a dozen reasons for his decision.
Herzog is scheduled to deliver a speech next Wednesday commemorating Israel’s 75th anniversary, after receiving an invitation by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last year, which was rescheduled earlier this year by current Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
While Herzog is seen as a more attractive figure to many Democrats, who have long resented Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Omar’s announcement demonstrated that animosity toward Israel runs much deeper than any particular government. Is.
Plus, the radical nature of the current coalition will certainly make it easier for other progressive lawmakers to follow Omar’s lead.
Omar tweeted in capital letters, “We should not invite the President of Israel – a government that under its current prime minister barred the first two Muslim women elected to Congress from visiting the country.” That ban meant that Rashida Tlaib, a fellow Muslim Congress member, was unable to visit her grandmother who lives in the West Bank.
Representatives Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota, right, and Representative Rashida Tlaib, D-Michigan, open the Bank to Israel at a press conference at the State Capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota, on August 19, 2019, following their planned trip to Jerusalem and the West was blocked. (AP Photo/Jim Monn)
umar and talib were forbidden in 2019 on his previous support of the anti-Israel boycott divestment and sanctions movement and on Israeli belief that he would use his visit to further his boycott activism. Netanyahu’s decision was encouraged by then US President Donald Trump.
While Omar acknowledged that Herzog is the head of state and does not set policy, he characterized him as a “loyal policy ambassador” of “the most right-wing government in Israel’s history”, at a time when the government was openly ‘crushing’ ‘ is promising ‘hopes for statehood for Palestine – essentially hammering a nail into the coffin of peace and a two-state solution.’
Democratic congressman was quoting Netanyahu Allegedly told fellow Likud lawmakers last month that Israel “needed to be crushed.” [the Palestinian] ambition” for an independent state.
“This comes as extreme right-wing Israeli cabinet members directly attacked President Biden, saying Israel is no longer ‘a star’ on the US flag,” referring to Comment The comments came after National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called Netanyahu’s cabinet “one of the most extreme I’ve ever seen” by Biden.
Omar, referring to the controversial issue of the Netanyahu government, said, “This comes even as the Israeli government is pushing for a process described by legal experts as a judicial coup in order to centralize power and weaken their control over power.” leading to months of mass demonstrations against the government across Israel. Efforts to reform the judiciary.
“And above all, it comes during the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank in history, shortly after Israel’s biggest incursion into the occupied West Bank in two decades, which leveled city blocks, and reduced killed less than a dozen people,” he said. Said.
Palestinians inspect a damaged house in the Jenin refugee camp after the Israeli army withdrew from a militant stronghold on July 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
However, the year 2002 was far more fatal for the West Bank Palestinians. Israel launched Operation Defensive Shield that year in response to the Second Intifada, during which approximately 500 Palestinians were killed. So far this year, 152 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank.
While a dozen people were actually killed during the IDF’s anti-terrorist operation in Jenin last week, the Israeli military has said they were all believed to be combatants.
Nevertheless, Omar noted that “human rights groups, legal experts, and much of the international community have condemned the growing violations of international law and human rights. These are all extremely worrying trends—especially considering the fact that provide about $4 billion in annual military aid.
He reminded that the last time an Israeli leader was invited to give a joint speech was Netanyahu in 2015 and it was done in defiance of then President Barack Obama to lobby against the Iran nuclear deal. Had a conversation.
Omar pointed out that just last month she had boycotted a joint address by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi “on the grounds of her government’s human rights record” and that she would take the same step next week.
Omar concluded, “The United States can and should use its diplomatic tools to engage with the Israeli government, but giving the current government the honor of a joint television address sends exactly the wrong signal at the wrong time.”
