Rep. Rouda: I have the deepest respect for the Israeli state and our 100 percent commitment to their security
California Democrat Rep. Harley Rouda says he believes President Trump's tweet stating that Israel would be showing 'weakness' by allowing Rep. Omar and Rep. Tlaib entrance into the country is the reason Prime Minister Netanyahu denied them access.
Democratic Congressman Harley Rouda, D-Calif., said Friday that the recent controversy between Israel and two Democratic congresswomen is unfounded and “ridiculous.”
Appearing on “America’s Newsroom,” Rouda told co-hosts Bill Hemmer and Sandra Smith that he was “very disappointed” in President Donald Trump.
On Thursday Israel announced that it would deny congresswomen Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., entry during an impending overseas trip, citing the lawmakers’ past rhetoric that was critical of the country. Tlaib and Omar became the first two Muslim women elected to Congress last year.
The announcement was made moments after the president tweeted it would “show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep. Tlaib to visit.” The president wrote that the pair “hate Israel & all Jewish people, & there is nothing that can be said or done to change their minds.”
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“They are a disgrace,” the president stated.
“I think we can clearly see the nexus between his tweet -- the ‘Tweeter-in-Chief’ that did that yesterday -- and the action that Netanyahu took,” Rouda told Hemmer and Smith.
“I find it outrageous that he would weigh in and suggest that members of Congress be barred from going to countries such as Israel, our dearest friend and closest friend in the Middle East,” Rouda said.
“This is unprecedented, to have a president of the United States take an action along these lines,” he added.
ISRAEL BLOCKS OMAR, TLAIB FROM ENTERING COUNTRY AMID PRESSURE FROM TRUMP
Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said the country would not “allow those who deny our right to exist in this world to enter.”
Additionally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a lengthy statement later Thursday standing by the decision and disputing criticism. His Twitter account said that Tlaib’s itinerary had "revealed that they planned a visit whose sole objective is to strengthen the boycott against us and deny Israel's legitimacy."
However, on Friday morning, Israel’s Interior Minister Aryeh Deri granted Tlaib’s request on humanitarian grounds to see her grandmother in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
But, in turn, Tlaib announced she had decided not to go, saying "oppressive conditions meant to humiliate me would break my grandmother's heart."
Deri then tweeted he had approved her request as “gesture of goodwill,” but it was determinably just “aimed at bashing the State of Israel.”
“Apparently her hate for Israel overcomes her love for her grandmother,” Deri wrote.
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Rouda said he disagreed with Deri and Netanyahu’s characterization.
“Think about what’s going on in our country right now,” Rouda exclaimed. “70,000 opioid deaths. 50,000 gun deaths. And, this is where the president wants us to focus our attention on? This is ridiculous!’