Trump Has Enabled Israel’s Antidemocratic Tendencies at Every Turn

Updated at 1:35 p.m. ET on Thursday, August 15, 2019.

The trip was always going to be bad PR for Israel. Representatives Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota planned to lead a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, meeting with “people in the refugee camps,” “people at checkpoints,” and “people who lost their lands and had their homes demolished,” as James Zogby, the head of the Arab American Institute, told the website Jewish Insider. No matter what, these kinds of photo ops from two of the U.S.’s most outspoken and visible critics of Israel would have provided powerful ammunition to the country’s opponents.

This morning, Israel handed its critics even more powerful material. According, the government has barred Tlaib and Omar from entering the country.