To: Senator Ben Cardin; Senator Chris Van Hollen; Representative Ben Cardin
As a registered voter within the State of Maryland, I am deeply disturbed by Israel's selective exclusion of two members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, from its borders.
Israel is widely touted as being "Our Democratic Friend in the Middle East," but I cannot, for the life of me, fathom how such selective, and clearly racist exclusion of our esteemed Congresswomen can be reconciled with such a title.
It's high time that we re-examine the U.S. relationship with a state which clearly has a two-tiered system of justice, one for Muslims and Arabs, and one for its ostensible Jewish partisans. And, we might examine what benefits, really, the U.S. gets from the massive dole we give each year to Israel.
The exclusion of these two women of color, representatives of our democracy, is a clear indicator of Israel's modus operandi, and one can only imagine the civil liberties and other violations which Palestinians living under its control endure, if these two Congresswomen---far more empowered than that population--are accorded such treatment.
As a registered voter who regards Israel as a racist colonial-settler state, I deplore U.S. aid to that entity..
Sincerely,
Nadrat Siddique
