(Politico) A Republican lawmaker is trying to block freshman firebrand Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) from leading a congressional delegation to the West Bank.
In a letter obtained by Politico, Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas) urged Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) and Democratic committee chairs not to sign off on Tlaib’s proposed trip to the West Bank. Tlaib, the first Palestinian-American woman elected to Congress and one of the first Muslim women, is planning to flout a trip to Israel sponsored by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee for newly elected members — a long-standing tradition for freshmen.
Babin, who began hand-delivering the letter to offices on Thursday, argues that a trip to “Israel’s nemesis” would “undo years of goodwill built by the foreign policy and Israeli-American communities.”
