Why Did Rashida Tlaib Back out of the Israel Trip?

A lot of people on both sides of the Israel-Palestinian conflict are shaking their heads over Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib's flip-flop on visiting Israel. First, Israel refused to let Tlaib and her fellow Congresswoman Ilhan Omar enter the country because they are rabidly anti-Israel, promote the BDS movement, and basically advocate for Israel's destruction as a Jewish state called Israel. Then, Tlaib sent the Israeli Interior Minister a letter asking to be allowed in to visit her sick and elderly grandmother. She added that she would not promote BDS during her stay and would accept any restrictions the Israelis applied. The Israel Interior Minister relented on humanitarian grounds.

Twelve hours later, Tlaib announced that she would not go after all since she would not accept Israeli restrictions, which is counter to what was stated in her letter. The question begs: What happened between the Israeli agreement to let her in and her decision not to go after all?

I am not privy to any inside information, of course, but in my opinion, Tlaib must have gotten a lot of blow back from the pro-Palestinian lobby, organizations like CAIR, and her own community back home in the Detroit-Dearborn area. How dare she give in to Israeli conditions that she not agitate against Israel? Make no mistake: If you are part of the pan-Arab, pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel gang, you don't cross those people. No doubt Tlaib's letter to the Israeli Interior Minister was viewed by many as caving into Israel. That can be downright dangerous. Just ask Anwar Sadat. By going back on her earlier letter, Tlaib broke her word for all to see, but she kept the CAIR types in her corner complaining about the "injustice" of it all.

In the meantime, nasty Grandma Tlaib gave an interview to the press in which she damned President Trump over his alleged role in the whole affair. Too bad. As far as I am concerned, Tlaib and her granny can meet in some third country like Sudan or some other hellhole. Israel doesn't need Tlaib, and the US certainly doesn't need her grandmother darkening our shores.

Both sides are declaring victory here, but to me, it just underlines how much people like Tlaib and her ilk cannot be trusted. In my opinion, Israel was right to bar these provocateurs in the first place.

There is a term for it: Undesirable aliens. Rashida Tlaib fits the bill.