Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s plan to lead a congressional delegation to Palestinian territory is “exceedingly dangerous” for U.S.-Israeli relations, a Texas Republican is arguing to Democratic leaders.
“Please deny Rep. Tlaib’s request to sponsor and lead a CODEL to Palestine and exercise your authority as chair to deny your consent to any member of your committee who seeks your approval to participate in such a misadventure,” Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, wrote in a Thursday letter to Democratic leaders.
Tlaib, the first Palestinian-American elected to Congress, has said she wants to take an official trip to the contested territory. The Michigan Democrat has attracted controversy since taking office this month, as she called for House Democrats to “impeach the motherfucker,” President Trump, and was photographed with a Palestinian activist who supports the Hezbollah terrorist group. She wants to go to the Palestinian territories, where her grandmother and other family still live, as an alternative to a trip to Israel traditionally sponsored by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
“I want us to see that segregation and how that has really harmed us being able to achieve real peace in that region,” Tlaib told the Intercept in December. “I don’t think AIPAC provides a real, fair lens into this issue. It’s one-sided. … [They] have these lavish trips to Israel, but they don’t show the side that I know is real, which is what’s happening to my grandmother and what’s happening to my family there.”
AIPAC sponsors the trip as a bipartisan event for freshmen lawmakers, with support from senior Democratic leaders.
“The delegation trip to Israel is an opportunity for freshmen members of Congress to learn more about regional threats and dynamics in the Middle East and the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” Anneliese Davis, a spokeswoman for House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told the Intercept.
Tlaib announced, in that same post-election interview, her support for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement. It’s an international effort to convince organizations and companies variously to boycott the state of Israel, divest themselves of any investments in the country, and impose sanctions modeled on the effort to isolate the apartheid South African government.
“To signal to our most threatened ally in the region that the United States Congress sanctions an official trip to visit Israel’s nemesis would be an exceedingly dangerous path forward,” Babin wrote in a Thursday letter to the newly minted House Democratic committee chairmen. “Notwithstanding the potential damage to the U.S.-Israel relationship, it seems to be a gross misappropriation of taxpayer dollars to contribute to, however indirectly, a belligerent group and its affiliates that directly oppose the interests of the United States.”
[Opinion: Rashida Tlaib just obliterated her own ‘free speech’ argument against anti-BDS legislation]
