It may be special but the close relationship between trump and netanyahu is causing controversy the decision to bar 2 congresswoman from entering israel has since shock waves through both countries so what does that mean for the long term ties between the u. S. And israel this is inside story. Hello and welcome to the program. Israels recent decision to ban a visit by 2 u. S. Democratic congresswoman has drawn a lot of controversy within the 2 allies the move to deny reseated to leave and omar in tree was condemned by top democrat politicians its also been criticized by a pro Israel Lobby Group to label amato had planned to visit israel and the occupied palestinian territories this weekend to leave was then allowed to make a humanitarian visit to her grandmother but she rejected israels offer the pair are known for their support of the Boycott Divestment Sanctions Campaign or b. D. S. Which aims to put pressure on the Israeli Government over its treatment of palestinians under israeli law supporters of the campaign can be denied entry President Donald Trump had called for the 2 lawmakers to be blocked ahead of israel banning them and the president has taken some decisions seem to have supported netanyahu is power trump has recognized drusilla as israels capital and move the u. S. Embassy there hes also recognize israeli sovereignty over the occupied golan heights. Hes announced the socalled deal of the century to resolve the Israeli Palestinian conflict the political details of the plan are yet to be revealed but palestinians believe it would be fair to their cause the president has ended u. S. Funding for the u. N. Agency providing basic assistance to Palestinian Refugees and troops increase pressure on iran is believed to be in that in yahoos favor the u. S. Has pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal with the country and labeled its revolutionary guards terrorists. All right lets bring in our guests from west jerusalem floor hossam the whom is deputy mayor of jerusalem and member of the likud party in washington d. C. Ariel gold is national codirector of activist Group Code Pink her organization is banned from israel in tel aviv gideon levy is columnist at haaretz newspaper welcome to the program fuller id like to start with you could you tell us the sequence of events when it comes to the decision to deny entry to receded to leave but well have no more because theres been a lot of back and forth about this when exactly was the decision made by Prime Minister netanyahu was only after donald trump tweeted that now infamous tweet. Look its impossible to really know what created the situation for the banning we know a few things we know that a couple of months ago i think even a month ago. Israeli ambassador to the us said that they would not ban and tree of the 2 congresswoman to israel for respect for the congress as an act of respect for the congress and then we see a tweet from trump and then we will see the banning having said that im not sure that the treat from trump was the definitive factor i think in my opinion once anybody any normal person saw the actual itinerary the agenda for the trip you saw that this trip was not a trip done in good faith to understand the complexity of the complet most trips that people come and most politicians the want to really inform themselves come on an agenda that is seemingly to be balanced when you have in the 1st page of the i 10 your e of the agenda visit to palestine you know on your landing in israel you already know the trip is not in any way possible a balance. And it has already a preexisting agenda and the agenda is the demonization of israel these 2 women the congresswoman who try to pass through. Law in the congress now we all know that b. D. S. Is a destructive organization that 61 thing that is part of the state of israel now people can talk about the fact that b. D. S. Equally equal rights its own founder barghouti makes understood to everybody who speaks to him that b. D. S. Is actually essentially a movement to destroy the fate of his or to destroy the jewish state as we know it and so one of the agenda became clear its very easy to understand why the government decided that they should ban these 2 these 2 women remember we passed a law 2 years ago. Oh that bans anybody who wants to incite a boycotts to israel one of your other guests ariel gold is banned from israel were talking about were in a country that normally allows everybody to come in even people who disagree with us but when you invite somebody to your house and the person already tells your ahead of time that they want to burn your house down i think its pretty logical to ban those people from coming into our country aereo floure already mentioned your status when it comes to israel you of course are jewish you are a supporter of the b. D. S. Movement what as far as you are concerned is your status when it comes to israel now. Well israel has told me that i am not allowed to enter without explicit permission from the government last time i tried to come in i did get permission from the government i secured a vista in advance but they still did not allow me into the country you know as she spoke about balance and she spoke about 8 the met the trips that members of Congress Take and she described them as balance they are quite the opposite you know 2 thirds of the travel that u. S. Members of Congress Take is to israel and it is almost 7 exclusively through the lobby group apac these are not balanced trips at all Peter Beinart correctly described them as disneyland trips these are one sided trips that hide the occupation and have a specific agenda and that agenda is to continue and increase unquestioned u. S. Financial and diplomatic support for israel ignoring the human rights abuses the palestinian suffer under pressure to leave an ill one omar were clear from the very beginning that they were coming to see the situation they were coming to see the exact places that apec doesnt take members of congress to go for example to the west bank city of hebron where violent ideologically extreme settlers live within the community now balance would be more members of congress travelling to see the full situation seeing the situation in gaza seeing hebron seeing the checkpoints this is not what happens on these apec trips getting a new britain that the u. S. Lawmakers in home are in rashida to leave have helped reveal the truth about israel to their country and to the world could you explain to our viewers what you mean by that. Its very simple for a few years now israel is betting people according to their political views those who believe in the world that israel is a democracy should know it because there is no democracy in the world which bans people because of their political views israel does and here if if the 2 congresswomen would have been allowed to enter israel israel could continue to claim that we are so open minded we had democracy we let anybody come no we dont even know if its a congresswoman even know it because someone who is stronger than all of us President Donald Trump. But told us to do so i mean the description that we heard before was quite ridiculous i mean it was very very clear. Though say they will be allowed to is the president tweeted then 2 hours later everything was very clear and i dont complain a days only Prime Minister is not in a position to say no to donald trump but what really matters is to call the bluff. Lady from tourism just say that we dont lets people enter those who want to disown our country no its not only your country im afraid those ladies wanted to go to palestine but a sign is not ours and the palestinian territories belong to the Palestinian People and israel cannot ben guests or who wants to go to meet their followers their colleagues their family members i think that if a country in the world would have prevented members of these very parliament to enter because of their political views it wouldnt be an arab state who doesnt have a clue diplomatic relations israel i think israel would have taken measures and i really hope that the americans were at least in your administration well take measures and well draw the consequences if israel treats like this members of the American Congress the United States has the 4 right to return to to react in the same language because im afraid thats the only language it is or will understand floor it looked to me like you wanted to respond to what gideon was saying i will let you do that but i also want to ask you more specifically about a pact because that is something that ariel was mentioning of course were talking about the powerful pro israel Lobby Organization its the American Israel Public Affairs committee now they have sponsored many trips for u. S. Lawmakers to come to israel. But beyond that there was a pretty powerful statement from a package issued after the decision to deny entry to a congresswoman to leave and omar they criticized the decision they said every member of congress should be able to visit and experience our democratic ally israel 1st hand that is pretty significant wouldnt you say. Absolutely and that shows that a park is more balanced that our real gold is letting people believe ive ive been at the receiving end and ive hosted many Many Missions to jerusalem and apac missions or come to jerusalem or eastern slim and they meet with activists in East Jerusalem they go to ramallah they meet with politicians in ramallah they go to the west bank they meet nonprofit organizations but ill tell you what the differences the difference is that the people that apec meet are Bridge Builders the people who want to solve the conflict now the people who were receiving the 2 Congress Women and not Bridge Builders they have 0 interest in solving the conflict and bringing peace to our region they are an organization a radical organization that was set up by an amateur we called me if this is an organization which has poured out anti semitic blood libels saying that the jews are still using christian childrens blood to make them up this is what this organization has put out then afterwards of course they try to erase it untrue to erase their record this is an organization that is constantly looking to ways to discredit is wrong but also anti semitic organization they have terrorist sympathizers sympathizers of the p. F. Opi so there is a big difference between coming with an Organization Im not against these women coming with a Palestinian Organization that is into building bridges that is into solving the conflict what i will not allow is a rabidly and is a mythic a terrorist sympathizing organization to bring people to do a 5 day wrote show of hatred and due to my station in our country yet theres other People Living here we have the west bank which is supposed to be the autonomy of the Palestinian Authority and one of the Palestinian Authority done the barrel tommy created terrorist bases we have they want to go to palestine its very simple let them land in egypt let them cross the ball. And go to gaza whos stopping them but when you go to london bengurion airport and youre going to have and anti semitic organization with terrorist ties showing them around its our sovereign right to say were not letting these people come to our country ariel to those who accuse you of being anti israel because you support b. D. S. What do you say to that accusation the land of israel is incredibly holy and important to me my ancestors lived there in the late 1400 in the town of soft i have family there my children have traveled to israel with their summer camps and it pains me very deeply not to be able to go there but upholding my Jewish Values which are the values of most American Jews of freedom and dignity and equality for all people is much more important to me and to you know that she spoke about me getting denied entry so you know we should talk about when i was in benghazi an airport being interrogated and they were discussing denying me entry not at one time did they ask me about the b. D. S. Campaigns that a run what they said was why would you have friends with arab names why do you spend time with palestinians in hebron why would you file a which i did a restraining order against a settler when you were there last this isnt about diligent im izing or destroying the jewish people this is about maintaining a 52 year long military occupation a crippling sea denying people basic human rights. Gideon how concerned are you that this is undercutting israels democracy and also i want to ask you more specifically about the fact that there are jewish House Democratic members in the United States that are that are worried that this is going to empower critics of israel and that will actually fuel support of the b. D. S. Movement what do you think about that 1st of all lets. Challenge your assumption that israel is or the mocha seed is and is a democracy for its jewish citizens israel is a kind of of the mocha c 4 its a listin citizens but israel cannot be considered the book receiver while in its dark becky there is one of the most brutal tyrant news on earth today i mean the military occupation of the west bank the siege on gaza may be one of the most really brutal and totalitarian regimes in the world today how can this define israel as a democracy thats really a big question mark and i really suggest that we will start to see israel as one entity as it is with the having syria regimes one of them is a brutal tyrant now. Those steps are all part of a much bigger plan bending some ective piece in been guru and that does not define israel as a democracy oh no its not this by itself but if you see the picture as a whole you see the picture i mean i can recall one regime which did ben guests who opposed this regime of getting into the country and this was the apartheid system in south africa if you where resisting their part that system you couldnt get into south africa very similar very same motivations and the same arguments again they want to destroy us so did the racist in south africa say again the world wants to destroy israel those who criticize are anti semites those who criticize us wants to exterminate us all those old propaganda cheap arguments which have nothing to do with reality and reality is very simple there is a brutal occupation which no country in the world is recognized which is a brutal violation of the human rights end of the International Law it takes now 52 years that nothing change about this occupation just gets stronger and stronger people who is conscious around the world have not only the right they have the duty to oppose it to resist it and the only way for people from the outside to resist it and also to do something not only to pay some bleeps service is to join b. D. S. Or any active east group who are ready also to do some see exactly like vegetarians who would band butcheries exactly like people who would band. Sweat shops in north seas. Asia there is the for right to boycott is to boycott go through patient because it is a more floor when us President Donald Trump yes ill let you jump in in just a 2nd but i want to also get this question in donald trump has accused democrats of having become an anti israel and an Anti Jewish Party do you believe that 2 other members of the likud party believe that rhetoric. No either i dont believe it i think that omar entirely but actually french members of the Democratic Party i think most democrats understand the complexity of this conflict i think a good one and all real present a very black and white picture of whats going on here i do agree with get on on one thing there is a brutal regime in the west bank but the brutal regime is the that of the Palestinian Authority the Palestinian Authority were given autonomy all over the west bank 15 years ago they had one election one election 15 years ago who is the brutal dictatorship and who is a brutal regime so i was not supposed to give them autonomy what are we supposed to do we give the Palestinian Authority autonomy they abuse that autonomy they dont have a democracy never told me only yesterday they banned l. G. B. T. Q. Activities in the west bank and with the brutal regime we have 20 percent of our country are of israelis they have the 4 rights of every single citizen of this country they are citizens of this country i live in jerusalem 37 percent of jerusalem arab East Jerusalem i think have every full right that they can have here in this city so one of they talking about theyre talking a very dark reality that theyve created for themselves im not saying that were perfect im not saying things have to change but theyre talking as if we havent tried to make peace 3 times we could have been celebrating 20 years of a palestinian state its our fault that our father rejected it its our fault that Mahmoud Abbas is rejected its our fault that every single generous offer to share this side of been rejected thats also awful what else can you blame honestly tell me somebody it is the other day somebody was talking about kashmir being awful old and this i cannot you know i appreciate that our real gold has Jewish Values but please Jewish Values come and live in israel see whats going on every day i walk with arabs every single day i encourage people who want to build bridges. We help and we Work Together to build a Better Society a shared society none of these women miffed at is not interested in a shared society miffed that is interested in a jew juden right here not having jews at all well im not im not going to allow this to happen to my country and neither the likud party in either the government of the state of israel and yes theres always things to improve and yes we have to constantly strive for peace and yes you have to develop the morals of a shared society but to have a group which is claiming the jews are using christian blood for making their bread to have that group be the hosts of them are anti eve and to then have the cheek to say that this is trying to redress the balance please listen after the whole debacle when when. A grandmother she was given a humanitarian entry for her grandmother to come and visit her grandmother she wrote a letter the letter was approved and then she says no no no go in because you know mark i hate you more than i love my grandmother were never going to have peace with people who hate more than they love i can tell you people in israel want peace most people want peace i have children and believe me i dont want them when theyre 18 years old to have to put on a normal uniform and go and fight i dont want that as a mother and im sure there are real gold lived here she think a little bit differently nobody wants to live in conflict but who do we make peace with a brutal anti l. G. Beauty and 2 women dictatorship that are throwing gays from the rooftops these are the people that were supposed to be making peace with a government of the Palestinian Authority that has another election in 15 years Mahmoud Abbas a leader that gives himself a salary of 300000. 00 a month or while his people dont have money this is were supposed to be making peace of please lord bring me some better partner. Brisson bad about im sorry interjection is that were starting to run out of time so i want to give ariel a chance to respond to what you mentioned about her in ariel i also want to ask you to speak more specifically about changing attitudes from American Jews their stance toward israel is there a generational shift in the attitude by American Jews towards israel. As shunda to say such a racist thing as to accuse rashida to leave of not loving her grandmother shame on you for that and i just want im quite curious here i heard claire ask me did invite me into to see the situation did you invite me to come and see with my own eyes because i would love to ok back to the real question i got on the divisional d. C. I. There again i dont specifically and there again democratic views on israel so in the last us election around 80 percent of American Jews voted democratic so when we talk about the Democratic Party we are by and large talking about the positions of American Jews and recently over the past few years we have seen major shift in American Jewish opinion towards israel especially among young people we have seen a massive growth 2 and rise from American Jewish youth we could talk about the group if not now and all the incredible changes that they are making. American jews by and large support at least partial dismantling of the settlements oppose the occupation many American Jews support at least a boycott of settlements and we are seeing cracks in what used to be unquestioned bipartisan support for israel after ms to leave and ms omar were denied president ial candidate Bernie Sanders himself a jew mentioned that perhaps if israel is going to be denying members of u. S. Congress perhaps they dont want the entirety of the 3 point 8000000000. 00 that we give as real every year i think this is something that we as americans and that the u. S. Congress needs to start exploring all right well we have run out of time so were going to have to end it fair thanks to all our guests floor house in the home ariel gold and gideon levy. And thank you too for watching you can see the program again any time by visiting our website aljazeera dot com and for further discussion go to our Facebook Page thats facebook dot com forward slash a. J. Inside story you can also join the conversation on twitter our handle is at a. J. Inside story for me how much enjoyment and the whole team here by for now. Well if we cannot have palestina my government was suddenly not allowed britain to control the french palestine would be an outrage but then we need to find another solution before we come to blows over essentially a good britain and france made the secret deal that changed the shape of the middle east and so. Now we can draw on the. Psychs pekoe lines in the sand on on just the. 67 war that spelled promise for one people. But disaster. The pledge to the establishment of the jewish homeland at the expense of the palestinians. The story of the british declaration that changed the middle east for all seeds of discord on aljazeera. The leaders of the 7 most powerful economies in the world need to be rich this august for the Climate Crisis is high on the agenda. But trade with brics it and the tension with iran will be vying for their attention how much progress can one might follow the g. 7 summit on aljazeera. The arab matheson in doha the top stories on aljazeera Syrian Opposition activists say rebels have withdrawn from the strategically important town of conscious in Southern Province follows days of fighting which saw them firing rockets into government territory the rebels also retreated from the town of moore the egg which is in hama and is the site of a Turkish Military observation post hunch at home in southern italy province is a main Population Center it used to be a place where 100000 syrians to shelter before the military escalation began and a port towns nearby and the northern hama countryside to fall into Government Forces rebel fighters would have risked being besieged if they didnt move further north but for the Syrian Government the big prize was getting control of crunchy cone that will give it access to the m 5 its an important economic highway that crosses the country in a quarter has this from beirut. A major blow to the opposition they have lost significant ground what we understand is that rebel forces have withdrawn from the strategic town of houla and in the southern town was close to collapse saying no rebels have been also forced to withdraw from towns further south in the northern countryside because losing. Would mean they would be besieged in northern how much so the Syrian Government and its allies taking control really of a large chunk of territory in the past 2 weeks weve seen the Syrian Government and its allies advance theyve taken more ground than they have in the past 3 months its not clear why what has changed has the rebel morale been weakened they have lost hundreds of men in this fight or has the government employed new tactics like concentrating their firepower and airstrikes