This is the letter Rashida Tlaib had to write to gain admittance to the occupied West Bank, to the part of the world that her parents were born in, and where her extended family lives:
“I would like to request admittance to Israel in order to visit my relatives, and specifically my grandmother. This could be my last opportunity to see her. I will respect any restrictions and will not promote boycotts against Israel during my visit.”
It is written on her official US Congress stationery.
It is humiliating.
It has a single purpose. To teach Palestinians that no matter what heights they may reach elsewhere, when it comes to their homeland and their loved ones there, the Israeli government holds them hostage. They have no rights that the Israeli government is bound to protect. The lesson is that they are powerless, and must submit.
In this instance, it is also a message to all American politicians, no matter who you are and how strong your convictions, we can silence you. It is a message to those who might wish to stand up for our principles of free-speech and oppose the bills proposed in states and Congress to outlaw boycotts directed at Israel.
This is exactly the kind of display of power against out-groups that a racist bully like Trump relishes, which is why he is cheering Netanyahu on.
Yet this is not Trump’s doing alone. It is completely in keeping with the way the Israeli government routinely uses Palestinians’ health and family relationships as weapons.
If ailing Palestinians need to travel for medical care, Israeli officials will withhold permits, sometimes forcing their loved ones to divulge information, or collaborate with the occupation. It’s the kind of thing authoritarian regimes have done for ever, which is why Trump relishes and eggs them on.
Israei officials routinely threaten to out gay Palestinians, forcing them to become informants against their families. This is a familiar pattern, oppressive regimes always target the vulnerable.
The power Israel’s oppressive government wields over ordinary Palestinians, it wields over Rep. Rashida Tlaib. And so the same humiliation is visited on her as well. Her high office was no shield.
Shut up and beg us, then we might let you visit your grandmother. That is the lesson Trump and Netanyahu want you all to learn.
All the power of the US Congress and the votes of hundreds of thousands of Americans who elected her was not enough to save her and Rep. Omar from this humiliation. An official visit by members of Congress was prevented by a government that styles itself as a US “ally”.
In the coming days, you will see several types of responses from elected officials. Many Republicans will exult over Rep. Tlaib’s humiliation, the “lesson” that has been taught to this “uppity” brown woman and her black colleague. We see them for what they are.
There will be Democrat’s and others whose eyes have been opened a little wider by this incident. They will hesitate to refer to Israel as a “liberal democracy”, as “great”. The bravest ones will vote against continued military aid to Israel. We should recognize them as allies.
Then there are those who will congratulate the Israeli government for its “magnanimity” and “compassion”. In the face of clear evidence to the contrary, they will extol Israel as a “liberal democracy”. And some among them will turn to Rep. Tlaib and Rep. Omar and ask why they are so “ungrateful “, after all, other countries also ban critics.
It’s the last group that is the most dangerous, because they seek to confuse.
When supremacists come for your rights, this group will give them billions in military aid along with half your rights. They’ll call it a practical compromise and chide you for demanding “purity”.
The next time Congress is voting to deliver billions in drones and fighter jets to Israel, remember this moment.
— @subirgrewal