Report: Muslim Congresswomen to Be Allowed on Har HaBayis

After a bipartisan congressional delegation congratulated Israel for agreeing to let two antisemitic House members into the country, officials must decide how to handle the visit.

A “secret meeting” was held on the subject in the National Security Council led by Deputy National Security Adviser Reuven Azar, according to a Channel 13 report on Wednesday night.

In particular, they deliberated what to do if the two Muslim, pro-BDS representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, say they want to visit Har HaBayis.

The officials reportedly agreed unanimously that they should be permitted to visit the site, but on the stipulation that they not be accompanied by anyone from the Palestinian Authority, which would be exploited as symbolic backing by the U.S. lawmakers to Palestinian claims of sovereignty there.

But the decision to allow the visit to Israel and Har HaBayis was justified on the grounds that refusal could harm relations with the United States Congress.

Final arrangements for the Omar and Tlaib trip have not yet been made, and officials were avoiding comment. The U.S. Embassy in Yerushalayim, the Israeli Foreign Ministry, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Palestinian Authority, and the House Ethics Committee in Washington, which must approve the trip, would furnish no information on it, according to The Jerusalem Post.