Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar could have traveled to Israel earlier this month with 70 colleagues from both sides of the aisle to "listen, learn in good faith," but instead were attempting to "tag team this trip in bad faith," and their intentions were not good, Rep. Lee Zeldin said Monday.
"It would have been a genuine and productive, substantive dialogue," the New York Republican, who is Jewish, told Fox News' "Fox and Friends."
"Instead what we have seen is this bad faith PR attempt."
Last week, Israel barred Tlaib, D-Mich., and Omar, D-Minn., from entering the country due to their support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions organization. Tlaib was later given permission to enter the country to visit her 90-year-old grandmother in the West Bank, so long as she didn't promote the anti-Israel BDS. She decided not to make the trip because of the "oppressive conditions" she said she was facing.
"As far as motivation, just look at her policy and her rhetoric," said Zeldin of Tlaib. "She has endorsed a one-state solution that would effectively remove Jews from power in Israel."
He said Tlaib and "her squad mate" Omar have said that Israel has hypnotized the world and if people support Israel, "you have pledged allegiance to a foreign power."
Meanwhile, Zeldin said a call from House Democrats to censure the Israeli envoy to the United States and the American ambassador to Israel in response to the controversy surrounding the Omar-Tlaib trip would be a "huge strategic mistake."
"Israel has a law that is on the books that allows them to prevent anyone to visit their country who seeks to harm their country," said Zeldin. "They were claiming to be representatives of the U.S. government, but they were seeking to undercut U.S. foreign policy."