Feminist icon Steinem blasts Netanyahu over refusing entry to US congresswomen

Feminist icon Gloria Steinem calls Israel’s prime minister a “bully” and says she won’t visit as long as he remains the country’s leader.

In a statement posted online Saturday, she says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to bar a visit by two Democratic congresswomen was “a welcome sign that I never have to enter any country or place under your authority.”

After the urging of US President Donald Trump, Israel denied entry to Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar last week over their support for the Palestinian-led boycott movement. Israel later granted permission for Tlaib to visit her grandmother in the occupied West Bank, but she declined, saying its preconditions were designed to humiliate her.

Steinem also criticized Trump, calling him the “accidental occupant” of the White House.

— with AP