歪歪漫画

ST. PAUL 鈥� A pair of U.S. congresswomen barred from visiting the Middle East lashed back at the Trump administration on Monday, Aug. 19, and said they'd continue a push to raise awareness about conditions there.

The comments came at their first real news conference since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week denied Congresswomen Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., entry into the country for a proposed tour at President Donald Trump's suggestion, saying the pair sought to "damage Israel and to foment against Israel."

At the Minnesota Capitol, Omar and Tlaib recounted the announcement that they would not take a tour of Israel and Palestine with another colleague in Congress and said they didn't want to visit the nations if the trip came with pre-set terms from Netanyahu or the Trump administration. And they encouraged their colleagues in Congress to press forward with planned visits.

鈥淚 would encourage my colleagues to visit, meet with the people we were going to meet with, see the things we were going to see, hear the stories we were going to hear,鈥� Omar said. 鈥淲e cannot let Trump and Netanyahu succeed in hiding the cruel reality of the occupation from us.鈥�

Omar and Tlaib have supported the Palestinian-led 鈥渂oycott, divestment and sanctions,鈥� or BDS, a movement that Palestinians say is aimed at voicing objection to Israeli military occupations. Opponents of BDS say the movement is an anti-Semitic effort to destroy Israel.

Tlaib, whose grandmother lives in the West Bank, applied separately to visit her grandmother and was granted approval. But she said after an emotional phone call with her family, she decided not to go.

"We all decided as a family that I could not go until I was a free American United States congresswoman coming there not only to see my grandmother but to talk to Palestinian and Israeli organizations that believed that my grandmother believed human dignity as much as anyone else does," Tlaib said.

The pair appeared with two Minnesota women who'd been blocked from entering Israel and military-occupied areas along with representatives of Jewish organizations in the state that said the Jewish and Muslim communities needed to stand together in solidarity.

Republican state lawmakers urged Omar to drop her support for the BDS movement and in statements and on social media reiterated their support for Israel.

"Congresswoman Omar is once again making headlines because of her support for a movement that Democrats and Republicans agree is anti-Semitic," state Rep. Ron Kresha, R-Little Falls, said in a news release. "She should reflect on her own statements about BDS and reconsider her support for this anti-Semitic movement."

The two Democrats are members are part of the so-called "squad" of freshmen liberal lawmakers of color who have frequently come under fire from the president. Trump has said Omar and Tlaib are becoming the face of the Democratic Party. And he has called on them to go back to the countries from which they came.

All four are U.S. citizens and three were born in the United States. Omar came to the U.S. as a refugee from Somalia and gained citizenship in the United States.