Palestinian-American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib changes her mind, won't visit 'oppressive' Israel

Palestinian-American congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has announced that she would not be visiting her grandmother in the occupied West Bank, after rejecting Israel’s “oppressive” conditions for the visit.

Palestinian-American congresswoman Rashida Tlaib on Friday rejected Israel's offer to allow her to visit her grandmother in the West Bank, blasting the "oppressive conditions" set for the visit as humiliating.

"I have decided that visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions stands against everything I believe in -- fighting against racism, oppression & injustice," Tlaib said in a tweet.

Earlier today, Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri said that Israel would allow Tlaib to visit the village of Beit el-Fouqa in the occupied West Bank to see her grandmother, who is in her 90s, on humanitarian grounds.

That came after Israel on Friday refused to allow Tlaib and fellow Congresswoman Ilhan Omar permission to visit the country, on the grounds that they supported the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

However, Deri reversed the decision after receiving a letter from Tlaib saying that she would not promote BDS activities while in Israel and the West Bank.

Tlaib’s family in the West Bank, however, condemned Israel’s conditions for her entry into the West Bank.

"We reject the decision of the Israeli occupation to ban the entry of Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib. This highlights how Israel antagonises every individual or organisation that support the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and rejects every attempt at explaining the reality of the Palestinian life under occupation," Tlaib’s grandmother, Muftiya Tlaib, and uncle, Ghassan Tlaib, said in a statement sent to CNN.

Tlaib’s rejection of Israel’s conditions for entry is the latest twist in a saga that has seen Israel come under heavy criticism, even by pro-Israel lobby groups in the US.

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