2019 News

Like 98% of Jerusalem natives who are not Jewish, Tlaib's father was not granted citizenship of his own country of Israel even though Beit Hanina was settled more than 2000 years ago. Israel has different rules for Jews and native non-Jews (Palestinians), which is why many people call Israel an Apartheid state.

With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statement that he will bar US Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar from entering occupied Palestine, one should expect strong and spontaneous support for Tlaib and Omar's from their Democratic colleagues. Instead, it took grassroots activist mobilizing to call on Tlaib and Omar's peers to condemn Netanyahu's ban, and Trump's support for this ban.

My friend Kamal Nawash is from Jerusalem. I am from Haifa. He was born a non-Jewish Palestinian under Israeli occupation. I was born a Palestinian Jew under the British Mandate. When Israel was born, I became an Israeli citizen. When Kamal was born, he became a stateless subject. I was allowed to vote in Israeli elections, and when I went to pursue my studies and career in the United States, I had the right to return home to Israel at any time. When Kamal immigrated to the United States, Israeli law prevented him from ever returning home even though his family traces its roots to the time of Jesus Christ.

Decades of Israeli efforts to demolish, destroy, rename, rewrite and erase everything Palestinian have been in vain.