weakness if israel allowed representatives omar and tlaib to visit. the ban sparked a mountain of criticism from democrats. speaker nancy pelosi saying it is beneath the dignity of the great state of israel. some republicans as well slammed the decision. senator marco rubio says while he disagrees with the two, denying them entry into israel is a mistake. let s go live to cnn s oren lieberman for the latest. we should add to that, oren, marco rubio says that s what the two congress women wanted was to get banned. you re getting details one may be able to enter israel after all. tell us more about that. reporter: dave, the story certainly isn t over yet. congresswoman rashida tlaib is asking to visit her family in the central west bank village. she says her grandmother is in her 90s and this may be her last chance to visit. she wrote a letter to the interior minister in which she
i m sitting in for christine romans. good morning, i m dave briggs. august 16th, 4 a.m. in new york, 11 a.m. in jerusalem. that s where we begin with strong reaction with what congress sabaning two muslim women. two members of the squad and his political foes. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu explaining the ban is the plan of the two congress women is only to damage israel and to full meant against isr l israel. both omar and tlaib agree. the president said, quote, it would show great weakness if israel allowed representatives omar and tlaib to visit. the ban sparking a mountain
to grant entry or not. we checked in with the government official and now he says it will be considered. perhaps a slight backtrack. no final decision on whether to grant entry to congresswoman tlaib. all of this after israel decided not to grant entry to both congresswoman tlaib and congresswoman omar. israel passed a law allowing it to ban entry to those who support a boycott against israel. this has certainly been the most high profile use of that law. when did israel make its decision? well, we know when it was announced. shortly after president trump tweeted israel will be showing great weakness by letting them in and that left israel very little wiggle room, especially prime minister netanyahu. netanyahu has never publicly disagreed with trump and he wasn t going to start now. it wasn t until shortly after that netanyahu said the two will be decided.
administration officials tell him get stronger against china or there might be a, quote, bloodbath. welcome back to early start, everybody. i m dave briggs. happy friday. happy friday to you as well. i m alison kosik sitting in for christine romans. it s 30 minutes past the hour in new york. there is strong reaction to what some lawmakers are calling a shameful decision to ban two muslim congress women from visiting israel. it came after president trump encouraged the move against democrats ilhan omar and rashida tlaib, two members of the squad and his political foes. benjamin netanyahu said the plan is only to damage israel and to fullment against israel. both omar and tlaib support the movement to boycott against israel. the israeli decision was announced shortly after a tweet from president trump in which he said it would show great