GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) scolded Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on Thursday after the freshman congresswoman accused Israel of discriminating against women of color by denying entry to her fellow squad members.
“[Members of Congress] are frequently asked to visit Israel to ‘see things for ourselves.’ But Netanyahu choosing to ban the only 2 Muslim women in Congress from entering tells the US that only some Americans are welcome to Israel, not all,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Trump is exporting his bigotry [and] making matters worse.”
Her remarks came after the Israeli government announced that it would officially be blocking Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) from visiting the country over their support for the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Omar and Tlaib are the United States’ first Muslim congresswomen, and both have been intensely critical of the Jewish state, even introducing pro-BDS legislation into the House of Representatives. The BDS movement seeks to punish Israel by politically and economically starving the country and is considered “the most prominent effort to undermine Israel’s existence,” according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
The Israeli Knesset enacted an anti-BDS law in 2017 that blocks foreign activists from gaining entry into the country.
“The fact that they are Muslim women has zero to do with this,” Cheney tweeted in response to Ocasio-Cortez. “The issue is their vile anti-Semitism and support of a movement dedicated to the destruction of the state of Israel.”
The fact that they are Muslim women has zero to do with this.
The issue is their vile anti-Semitism and support of a movement dedicated to the destruction of the state of Israel.
And @AOC should realize she hurts all women every time she claims phony gender discrimination. https://t.co/ocNBHTXYFG
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) August 15, 2019
Cheney is a staunch supporter of the Jewish people and has been sounding the alarm on the rise of anti-Semitism around the world as well as within the United States government.
Both Omar and Tlaib have been embroiled in allegations of anti-Semitism even prior to taking office. The duo has faced widespread backlash for their close ties to various anti-Israel activists and Islamic terror-supporters, and for promulgating historical inaccuracies to advance a pro-Palestinian narrative.
They notably sided with Hamas in May after the Palestinian terrorist organization launched nearly 600 rockets into Israel from across the Gaza border in a 24-hour period. Hamas subsequently claimed responsibility for the multiple Israeli deaths.
Cheney has often pointed to the progressive congresswomen as examples of the growing anti-Semitism within the Democratic Party.
Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib, and Omar have consistently accused their political adversaries of racism and sexism, a point which Cheney noted.
“[Ocasio-Cortez] should realize she hurts all woman every time she claims phony gender discrimination,” Cheney said of the self-proclaimed “radical” Democrat.
The Wyoming congresswoman has often butted heads with the trio. In July, she gave a fiery speech rebuking them for proclaiming that their political opponents are bred from racial animus rather than difference in ideology.
“Our opposition to our socialist colleagues has absolutely nothing to do with their gender, with their religion, or with their race,” Cheney said at the time. “It has to do with the content of their policies.”
“Our colleagues are wrong when they tell Americans … that any individual seat at the table is only valuable, only legitimate, if that person espouses some preapproved set of beliefs deemed appropriate based on their religion, or their gender, or their race,” she added. “When they say that, that is racist.”