The grandmother of Rashida Tlaib is blaming Donald Trump for her granddaughter’s purported inability to visit her in her home in the West Bank, Yahoo News reports. “May God ruin him,” she told a local reporter.
Muftia Tlaib is a 90-year-old woman living in Beit Ur Al-Fauqa, a Palestinian settlement in the West Bank. She had been looking forward to seeing her granddaughter, whom she hasn’t seen in over a decade. A relative says that the aged woman was so excited about seeing her granddaughter that she was going to slaughter a sheep and prepare stuffed vine leaves for her — her favorite meal.
However, Rashida won’t be visiting her grandmother in the West Bank, for reasons that, at least obliquely, involve Donald Trump.
Tlaib is a vocal supporter of the BDS movement, which calls on individuals, corporations and governments to boycott several institutions that are Israeli-owned or otherwise have ties to Israel. As reported by The Inquisitr , Israeli law allows the government to deny admission to people who have supported the movement.
Donald Trump himself put pressure on Israel to deny Tlaib, as well as Ilhan Omar, permission to enter the country. On Thursday, as The Times of Israel reported, the country agreed, and denied the women their visas. Whether or not Israel would have denied the visas with or without Trump’s involvement is not clear.
I met @RashidaTlaib in Washington in March to talk about our work. She’s an incredible woman, a courageous fighter for justice & human rights. I have so much respect for her bravery & refusal to be silenced.. sending #solidarity to Rashida & her family in the occupied West Bank?? pic.twitter.com/2xFBfHDty1
— Frances Black (@frances_black) August 16, 2019
Israel later offered Tlaib the opportunity to come to the West Bank, on humanitarian grounds, provided she refrain from her BDS advocacy. Tlaib refused, saying that the entire ordeal was meant to “humiliate” her.
Donald Trump, for his part, celebrated with something approaching glee.
“Rep. Tlaib wrote a letter to Israeli officials desperately wanting to visit her grandmother. Permission was quickly granted, whereupon Tlaib obnoxiously turned the approval down, a complete setup. The only real winner here is Tlaib’s grandmother. She doesn’t have to see her now!” he wrote.
Muftia is not pleased about the president of the United States bringing her into the narrative.
“Trump tells me I should be happy Rashida is not coming. May God ruin him,” she says.
Bassam Tlaib, Rashida’s uncle, finds Trump’s involvement in the situation ironic.
“Trump has told Rashida and Ilhan to go back to their home countries. What a contradiction, yesterday he asked them to leave and today he asks that they aren’t let in,” he said.
Muftia, for her part, says the her heart tells her that Rashida will come to see her.
