The Tlaib and Omar non-trip

Regarding “Tlaib refuses offer to visit family, citing ‘oppressive conditions’” (August 18), when Israel barred the two congresswomen’s entry, many pundits reacted negatively and said that we should have left them in. I felt that this was a good decision because they would have come with a gaggle of communications people to film all of their provocative actions, probably starting at the airport. All of this material would be splashed online and used against Israel.

After this, Rep. Rashida Tlaib sent a letter to Interior Minister Arye Deri asking for a humanitarian waiver and promising to abide by conditions which, apparently, had been agreed upon prior to sending the letter. She probably thought that this request would be rejected and that she could use this as additional proof that we are evil. Because we are a compassionate people, she was given a waiver based upon her letter almost immediately.

She then rejected the waiver and stated that blasting Israel was more important that visiting her 90-year-old grandmother. This was followed up by a tweet by her grandmother in English. Hard to believe. Congratulations to our government. SHMUEL SCHWARTZ

Ra’anana

Israel bans two hate-filled women from entering the country and the Left goes berserk. More than a dozen Muslim countries ban entry to eight million Israelis and the Left remains silent.

Hypocrites. STEPHEN VISHNICK Tel Aviv

Shame on Israel. As an American Jew with ties to Israel, bar mitzvah trees and who attended school with Jonathan Netanyahu, I am for the first time ashamed. Only leaders who fear the truth work to block the free exchange of ideas. President Donald Trump will be gone some day, but the damage to Israel’s standing and security may take far longer to cleanse. ROBERT B ISARD Elkins Park, PA

I strongly support our government’s decision to bar those enemies of Israel. As such, I strongly disagree with the wholly negative analyses by your editorial staff, including: “Tlaib and Omar outsmart Israel” by Herb Keinon, “Dem Leaders: Disappointing decision,” by Omri Nahmias and “Why Israel errs in barring congresswomen,” by David Brinn.

Surely your analysts could find something positive about this decision? If the government had allowed them to enter Israel, they would only have used their visit for anti-Israel propaganda purposes that would have had long-term consequences. This is the dignified way to go, we have shown them we have sovereignty and we will not allow them to use us as the object of their negativity and derision. This was the right decision. JACK COHEN

Beersheba

Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar are on record as enthusiastic supporters of Omar Barghouti’s antisemitic genocidal BDS movement. BDS cofounder Barghouti said the sole purpose of BDS is the “euthanasia” of the Zionist dream of Israel. A student of history, Barghouti knows full well that the Nazi T4 Euthanasiav Program was the foundation of the Final Solution of the Jews as enacted in the Wannsee Protocol in January 1942. His use of the word leaves no doubt that BDS aims to continue the antisemitic eliminationist mission formalized by Reinhard Heydrich and Adolf Eichmann at the Wannsee Conference. By embracing this, Tlaib and Omar should be barred from entry. Their only purpose as advocates for BDS is to agitate for the destruction of Israel. RICHARD SHERMAN

Margate, Florida

Reps. Omar and Tlaib support BDS, which has a policy of boycotting Israel, which it feels should not exist and should be replaced by one state of Palestine.

The congresswomen should not be surprised that they have been boycotted, facing the same tactics they promote. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. They would fully understand the language of boycotting with the aim of destroying your enemy. They have never fallen short of being enemies to the Jews and Israel.

If those that disparage you come knocking at the door, it is not a good idea to open it with wide arms and wait to be hit. Their itinerary had nothing to do with Israel or meeting Israeli officials. The Congresswomen were not interested in the Israeli narrative and would have been there to promote anti-Israel and antisemitic propaganda. They needed to be boycotted. KAREN PISK

Netanya

They can always sneak in through a terror tunnel. LOIS GREEN

Kadima

The technically legal decision to block US Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib from entering Israel has the potential for significant negative ramifications. While their hateful antisemitism and support for BDS are contemptible, preventing them from entering Israel will not cause them to temper these positions. If anything, it will give them (and other members of Congress) an excuse to escalate their charges that Israel oppresses its minority Arab citizens and Palestinian neighbors. They will assert that anti-democratic Israel is afraid to allow people to see what is really happening on the ground.

Israel has nothing to hide or be ashamed of. Omar and Tlaib would have seen the region’s only democracy in the midst of a no-holds-barred election campaign. They should have been introduced to Arab judges, Knesset members and leaders of institutions of higher education where many Arab students study, along with a broad range of Israeli political leaders. They should have been shown the tunnels through which Hezbollah and Hamas planned to launch attacks against Israeli civilians. Then they should have visited Yad Vashem so that they could learn about real concentration camps – worlds apart from the detention facilities where immigrants illegally crossing the US/ Mexico border are held temporarily.

Omar and Tlaib would have witnessed an open society where all religions and ethnic groups mingle freely. If they continued falsely accusing Israel of “apartheid” in the face of these facts, they would have conclusively demonstrated their antisemitism. If they refused to participate in a program designed to explain both sides of the complicated story, their closed-mindedness and disrespect for one of the US’s closest allies would be plain for all to see.

While Israel had the right to take this action, it has played into our enemies’ hands. The decision is understandable on an emotional level, but we could have shown strength through restraint. When Omar and Tlaib become increasingly strident in criticizing Israel, as no doubt they will, we will be partly to blame.

EFRAIM A. COHEN

Zichron Yaakov

Congresswomen Omar and Tlaib did not plan a good faith, open-minded visit to Israel and to the disputed areas. Their proposed itinerary and extreme anti-Israel stances made it clear that admitting them to Israel would give them additional ammunition with which to attack the country.

The Knesset was correct in 2017 to pass a law barring BDS supporters from Israel. These two congresswomen are outspoken BDS proponents. Their Democratic Party membership should not exempt them from this Israeli law if they seek to visit.

History teaches us that threatened democracies are vulnerable to being suborned by hostile forces from within. The Weimar Republic is a textbook example. Israel cannot afford to ignore history by admitting these two inimically hostile legislators. Keep them out! DANIEL H. TRIGOBOFF, PH.D. Williamsville, New York