Linda Sarsour wanted to enter Israel.

So did Rashida Tlaib.

So did Ilhan Omar.

That is an awkward fact.

All three women have spent years accusing Israel of apartheid. They have described it as a state built on Jewish supremacy. They have accused it of ethnic cleansing, war crimes, and genocide. They portray Israel as uniquely dangerous for Palestinian Arabs and Muslims.

Yet all three Muslim women voluntarily sought entry.

If they truly believed their own accusations, the decisions are difficult to comprehend.

People do not voluntarily place themselves under the authority of governments they believe are genocidal. They do not seek access to countries they regard as fundamentally dangerous to people like themselves.

There is a reason almost no Syrian Jews are preparing to return to Syria despite recent invitations from the country’s new leadership. Syria was once home to a thriving Jewish community. Today, it is virtually gone. Whatever promises may be made by the new government, people who genuinely fear for their safety do not rush back. They do not voluntarily place themselves under the authority of a state they believe could harm them.

Sarsour, Tlaib, and Omar did the opposite.

Their applications revealed something their rhetoric obscures. Whatever they say about Israel, they expected to arrive safely, travel freely, and return home without incident.

Consider the many Muslim-majority countries with suffering populations that these Muslim women did not attempt to enter. Sudan and Somalia. Lebanon and Syria. Yemen and Iran. Yet these women say nothing about those regimes and do not seek to visit those nations.

It is difficult to reconcile the claims that Israel is a genocidal, apartheid, supremacist state – seemingly uniquely in the region – and that people who vilify the country are running to visit it.

No one forced them to apply for a visa. They wanted to go.

And that may be the strongest commentary on their smear and accusations campaign of all.