Understanding Congresswoman Tlaib’s Tears.

Understanding Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib's Tears.

There has been so much emotional uproar over Israel's decision to ban Congresswoman Tlaib from her ancestral home of Israel-Palestine that most Americans failed to understand the substance of the dispute and of Congresswoman Tlaib's tears.

For the sake of disclosure, it should be noted that I am a supporter of Donald Trump and I generally vote Republican. However, in this case, I support Congresswoman Tlaib.

By now, most Americans have heard about Representative Tlaib's maternal grandmother, who lives in the Palestinian town of Beit Ur. However, what was not discussed was her father's home of Beit Hanina, which is a district of Jerusalem, the capital of Israel. 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 non-Jews, which is why many people call Israel an Apartheid state.

To illustrate further, because Jerusalem's real estate is expensive, many Jews and non-Jews, could drive for five minutes to live in cities like Bethlehem where the cost of living is much cheaper. However, unlike Jews who can move from city to city without consequences, Palestinians who move out of Jerusalem in search of cheaper housing would not be allowed to return home to Jerusalem, which divides families and causes extreme hardship.

Moreover, any Jew in the world can move to Israel and become a citizen of the state even if he/she has no familial ties in Israel. On the other hand, Palestinians who move out of Israel-Palestine in search of opportunity may not be allowed to return to their homes and families. Thus, it was particularly painful for Palestinians to hear that Congresswoman Tlaib was not allowed to visit Israel-Palestine because many of them are also not allowed to visit their homes in Israel-Palestine.

Congresswoman Tlaib is a student of the American civil rights movement and the concept of racial segregation is morally repugnant to her. That is why she calls for the One-State Peace Solution for Israel-Palestine. The One-State solution, also known as the Equal Rights solution, is based on the concept of equal rights for Palestinians and Israelis in a united country. Today, many young Palestinians view the two-state solution as nothing less than racial segregation that is much worse than racial segregation in the American South during the Jim Crow era.

Congresswoman Tlaib is a civil rights activist at her core. Like all Americans who were born after segregation, she was taught in Detroit schools and everywhere else that racial segregation in America was a bad thing. So why would anyone be surprised when Congresswoman Tlaib opposes racial segregation in Israel-Palestine?

Congresswoman Tlaib should be praised for her vision rather vilified and falsely called antisemitic.