US Rep. Tlaib insists on anti-Israel stance as her grandma broadsides Trump

US Representative Rashida Tlaib has doubled down on her support for the boycott movement against Israel, after President Donald Trump asked the Tel Aviv regime to deny the Palestinian-American lawmaker entry to the occupied territories in a move that dragged her grandmother into the matter as well.

Tlaib – a Democrat who represents Michigan in the US House of Representatives – on Saturday called on all Americans to boycott comedian Bill Maher after he devoted a segment of his Friday’s talk show to bashing the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Maher referred to the movement as a “bullsh** purity test.”

"Maybe folks should boycott his show," said Tlaib, who went on to compare criticism of the BDS movement to the controversy surrounding boycotts of South Africa's apartheid regime in the 1970s and 1980s.

"I am tired of folks discrediting a form of speech that is centered on equality and freedom," the lawmaker continued. "This is exactly how they tried to discredit & stop the boycott to stand up against the apartheid in S. Africa. It didn't work then and it won't now."

Maher’s comment came a day after Israel said it would deny entry to Tlaib and her fellow Democrat Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota for their support of the BDS movement following an appeal from Trump.

PressTV-Israel blocks visit by US congresswomen over BDS

Israel has decided to bar two US congresswomen from visiting the occupied territories over their support for boycott of Tel Aviv.

Israel later said that Tlaib could visit her grandmother in the West Bank on the grounds that she agrees not to “promote the boycott against Israel” during her trip.

The US congresswoman announced in a tweet on Friday that she would not visit her grandmother as planned after the Tel Aviv regime imposed "oppressive conditions" and treated her “like a criminal.”

PressTV-US Congresswoman Tlaib rejects Israel's offer to visit family

US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has rejected Israel’s offer to allow her visit her family in the West Bank after Tel Aviv barred her from entering the occupied territory.

Tlaib, with Palestinian roots and Omar, with a Somali origin, have openly supported the BDS movement against Israel and remain outspoken in their criticism of the Israeli crimes against Palestinians.

The movement was initiated in 2005 by over 170 Palestinian organizations and later became international.

Tlaib and Omar’s support for BDS comes at a time when Trump has stepped up ties with Tel Aviv and stopped Palestinian aid.

Israel and its allies in Washington have long railed against calls for people and groups across the world to cut economic, cultural and academic ties to the occupying regime.

'May God ruin' Trump

In a separate development on Saturday, Tlaib’s grandmother minced no words in vilifying Trump following the US president’s statement that she was the “only real winner” after the congresswoman rejected to visit the 90-year-old in the West Bank.

“Trump tells me I should be happy Rashida is not coming. May God ruin him,” Muftyiah Tlaib said in an interview with Reuters released on Saturday morning.

Tlaib’s grandmother lives in the village of Beit Ur al-Fauqa in the West Bank, located about 24 kilometers from the occupied Jerusalem al-Quds.

Muftiyah has previously said she is “proud” of her granddaughter after getting into a diplomatic spat with the Quds-usurping regime of Israel.

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