there has been fierce condemnation of the president s initial comments yesterday with the argument being made by some jewish groups the president was echoing anti-semitictrop trope. that is to say that they have a dual loyalty. they are more loyal to israel than their own country. you heard the president s remarks on this specific topic. it s obvious he s been trying to make those democratic lawmakers, rashida tlaib and ihlan omar who have been largely criticized. he s trying to make them the face of the democratic party. let s go to the topic of guns. he confirmed he had a conversation with wayne lapierre. he said he still wants more background checks, but he again reemphasized the idea that the background checks that exist right now are very strong in his words. a kcouple weeks ago shortly following the el paso and dayton
tlaib and ihlan omar, as you point out two of the most vocal critics of israel in congress. israel denying them access because they are supporters of a boycott against israel, and second because president donald trump essentially forced prime minister benjamin netanyahu s hand saying israel would show great weakness if they let them in. but israel left a window open there saying if she want to come on a humanitarian visit, that is if tlaib wants to come, she would be allowed to do so. that permission was granted this morning or early into the afternoon. and it looked like she would accept, that she would have made a visit over the weekend and early next week. until a few hours ago she said she would not come under the restrictions under a sole humanitarian visit where she had promised not to take any actions that would be seen as a boycott against israel. and that, by the way, is an action supported by her family here. we spoke to them a short time ago and her uncle says she
think that shows you just how far the relationship has deteriorated. given the statements that congresswoman ihlan omar has made about israel in the past and congresswoman rashida tlaib, given the bds movement and given israel s right not to allow them in, do you think it would have been mutually beneficial for both this country and israel to have had them make the trip and to have had them have conversations there that they will not have? do you think that that would be beneficial to all parties? let me, first of all, make clear that i think that congresswoman omar and tlaib s positions on israel are wrong-headed and fundamentally counterproductive to what they say they re interested in, which is promoting the palestinian cause. boycotting israel can only have a negative impact. israel has a law which prevents
and again, this is after israel denied permission for her and her fellow congresswoman ihlan omar to visit israel, both of who support the boycott of that under. oren lieberman joins me this morning with more. israel under the 2017 law is allowed to do this. they can bar people who support the boycott from coming into the country and they chose to do that with the encouragement of president trump. president donald trump certainly instigated and support the decision saying it would be showing great weakness if they allowed them to enter. benjamin netanyahu has never publicly disagreed with trump and wasn t going to start now. this is the most high profile use of the law. there was an opening that congresswoman tlaib initially took that she would be allowed to enter or at least make a request if it was on humanitarian grounds to visit her family. that was granted by israel s
to condemn the bds movement that tlaib and omar support that is wrapped up in all of this. congressman, thank you for being here. thanks for having me. you called the prime minister s decision or the government s decision to block both of these members of congress short-sighted and wrong. that was like a hot second ago and now we have these twists and turns. now you re looking at something of a reversal but with restrictions on tlaib and she s now refusing to go under those circumstances as oren laid out. what is your reaction this morning? i think that the decision that congresswoman tlaib is making is a personal decision. i did say yesterday that the decision the prime minister s decision to deny entry to both congresswoman tlaib and omar was wrong and shortsighted because they re missing the broader point. as members of congress when we have the opportunity to go to israel or any country, is an opportunity to see and learn. i ve been to israel more times than i can count.