Reps. Omar, Tlaib push back on Israel, President Trump

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Reps. Omar, Tlaib push back on Israel, President Trump

Progressive 'Squad' members hold news conference to slam 'oppressive conditions' imposed by Israel and call for end to travel ban; reaction and analysis from the 'Special Report' All-Stars.

This is a rush transcript from "Special Report with Bret Baier," August 19, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

REP. ILHAN OMAR, D-MINN.: Netanyahu's decision to deny us entry might be unprecedented from members of Congress, but it is the policy of his government when it comes to Palestinians. This is the policy of his government when it comes to anyone who holds views that threaten the occupation.

REP. RASHIDA TLAIB, D-MICH.: I know that when we can finally see them as deserving of human dignity, everyone who lives there will be able to live in peace. It is unfortunate that Prime Minister Netanyahu has apparently taken a page out of Trump's book.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: How can you conclude it's anything that what it usually is with them, which is raw politics and media attention?

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

BRET BAIER, ANCHOR: Two Democrat congresswoman denied entry into Israel after a controversy press conference today in which they explained their points of view. We also had cartoon shared over the weekend on Instagram which was pointed out, and it's from Representative Tlaib. The more they try to silence us our voices rise. But as pointed out by one Jewish American publication, that this cartoon actually is from a cartoonist that came in second in Iran's International Holocaust Cartoon contest, which is a thing that exists in case you thought it could get any worse.

What about this and the politics surrounding all of this. Let's bring in our panel: Chris Stirewalt is politics editor here at Fox News; Susan Page, Washington bureau chief at USA Today, and Ben Domenech, publisher of The Federalist. Ben, your thoughts?

BEN DOMENECH, THE FEDERALIST: What we saw today was a disgusting display. I don't think we should have any jokes about this. These were two members of Congress, of the people's House, expressing in public views that are not just important, but anti-Semitic. They are not just anti-Israel, they are not just anti-Zionist. They take on a disgusting character to them.

And they are lying to the American people. They are lying about their plans when it came to going over there. They could have easily participated in the bipartisan Congressional delegation, the largest of its kind that went over there recently. They chose not to. They planned to go over there and to do everything that they could to make the case that the Jewish state as it exists in Israel is an abhorrent thing that ought to be viewed in a negative way by the American people.

This was nothing less than a disgusting and, honestly, I felt my blood pressure rising as I was listening to the kind of things these women were saying. I feel like this is a situation where for every Democrat who has come on this network and others and denounced the president in the past couple of years for what they view as racist expressions on his part, they should be called out as hypocrites if they do not denounce the kind of things that have been expressed by these two members of Congress.

BAIER: Susan, pointed out by Congressmen Lee Zeldin and others that this delegation, and we have a picture of it, that went over with the Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, bipartisan, Democrats and Republicans made the trip, and traveling over there, that they could have been a part of this. They chose not to.

SUSAN PAGE, USA TODAY: It's true. You could criticize them for choosing not to be a part of that larger Congressional delegation, I think it is important to also look at what is with Israel did in this case. Israel denied entry to two elected members of the U.S. Congress. And Israel is our closest ally, the only democracy in the Middle East, a nation with which we have long and bipartisan relationships. And it seems to me that that is something that is serious and not in the tradition of what we expect our close allies to do, even when they disagree with the views that those members of Congress told.

BAIER: Where does this fall politically? In 2018 the exit polls showed that when you asked party support among Jewish voters, this is the House results among Jewish voters, 72 percent for Democratic candidates, 26 percent for Republican candidates. Does something like this change the dynamic as you head to 2020?

CHRIS STIREWALT, FOX NEWS POLITICAL EDITOR: In the long term the Democrats do have the same kind of problem that the Labour Party in Britain has. If you let anti-Semitism fester, it has a way of doing pretty harmful things politically, especially in a country like United States where you have five or six million Jewish voters, especially Jewish voters that are clustered in key states like Pennsylvania and Florida.

I think, though, here we are talking about a lot of political stunt making that is going on here. We have a Congress that doesn't legislate so we have members of Congress who view moments like this as performative opportunities where you can show off. This isn't about the Jewish vote in the United States or Israeli policy as much as it is these two women who see a larger stage for themselves. And Benjamin Netanyahu, don't forget, has a big election coming up on the 17th of September where he is really under pressure having failed the form of government in the spring. This is good politics for him at home. So I think this isn't about larger political issues so much right now as it is the narrow interest of these two American lawmakers and Netanyahu at home.

BAIER: Here's two senators on both sides of the aisle on the big picture.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, R-S.C.: The policies coming out of the Democratic Party toward Israel are dangerous. Tlaib and Omar openly calling for an economic boycott of the state of Israel which will destroy the state of Israel. The reason she is not visiting her grandmother is because she has embraced the destruction of Israel through an economic boycott.

SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND, D-N.Y.: President Trump is unwilling to hold anyone accountable. He's unwilling to stand up to other world leaders. You have seen it with this instance of Israel, you've seen it with China, you've seen it with Russia. And he has really shrunk in the face of his responsibilities.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

BAIER: What do you say, Ben, to the people who say we, in the media, are giving these congresswomen too much attention, that we are giving them too much oxygen on this front?

DOMENECH: You know what, the reason that the media is paying attention to this is just like the reasons that they paid attention to the Tea Party when it was rising. You don't have to take over the whole of a body of Congress or something like that in order to be representative of a thrust in which a certain part of a major party in America is going. That is what the Tea Party was.

And I think in this case it's also representative of where these congresswomen are and where the thrust of their agenda is going, which is very disturbing. To Chris's point I believe this as an export of Corbynism that we have seen from the U.K. into America.

BAIER: Jeremy Corbyn.

DOMENECH: Jeremy Corbyn in a very unhealthy way. It is Marxist. It is anti-Semitic. It is anti-Israel, and it's not in the interests of America to have this kind of thing animating a major party. I view these people, view these congresswomen as being deserving of the kind of rebuke that we saw Republicans in the house give to Steve King of Iowa. I hope that Nancy Pelosi will stand up and do the same for them.

BAIER: Last word, Susan.

PAGE: The Democrats are divided when it comes to policy toward Israel and support for the current Israel government. We are strong enough to have that debate, and so is Israel.

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