Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri announced Friday that Israel had decided to let Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) enter Israel after all, allowing her "a humanitarian visit to her 90-year-old grandmother" in the West Bank. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had announced Thursday that Israel was barring a planned delegation from Tlaib and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, because they support the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. Israel has passed a law allowing it to refuse entry to BDS proponents.
President Trump had encouraged Israel to block the visit by the two U.S. congresswoman, and U.S. Ambassador David Friedman issued a statement affirming that the Trump administration "supports and respects" Netanyahu's decision. Democrats had roundly criticized the move, as had pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC, and even some Republicans called it a strategic miscalculation on Israel's part.
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