RASHIDA TLAIB (D) MI-12

A Voice Of Antisemitism In The US House of Representatives

On October 18, 2023 U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib took the platform before a gathering of members of Jewish Voice for Peace who subsequently illegally occupied the rotunda of the U.S. House of Representatives Cannon Office Building. More than 300 people were arrested. The occupation of the Cannon Office Building was illegal because the Cannon Office Building is where Members of the House work and they were inferring with the lawful discharge of duties of duly elected members of Congress (see J6 - try to find an objective discussion).

During her brief appearance Tlaib had this to say:

"President Biden, not all Americans are with you on this one and you need to understand that. We are literally watching people commit genocide and killing the vast majority just like this, and we still stand by and say nothing. We will remember this." (emphasis added)

AND this:

"Israel just bombed the Baptist Hospital killing 500 Palestinians (doctors, children, patients) just like that. @POTUS this is what happens when you refuse to facilitate a ceasefire & help de-escalate. Your war and destruction only approach has opened my eyes and many Palestinian Americans and Muslims Americans like me. We will remember where you stood.”(emphasis added)

And this is what Tlaib posted on her official U.S. House page:

“I grieve the Palestinian and Israeli lives lost yesterday, today, and every day. I am determined as ever to fight for a just future where everyone can live in peace, without fear and with true freedom, equal rights, and human dignity. The path to that future must include lifting the blockade, ending the occupation, and dismantling the apartheid system that creates the suffocating, dehumanizing conditions that can lead to resistance. The failure to recognize the violent reality of living under siege, occupation, and apartheid makes no one safer. No person, no child anywhere should have to suffer or live in fear of violence. We cannot ignore the humanity in each other. As long as our country provides billions in unconditional funding to support the apartheid government, this heartbreaking cycle of violence will continue.”(emphasis added)

I highlighted those three sentences for two reasons first, they have no basis in fact. Second, they are some of most inflammatory statements that can be made on the issue of Palestine, Palestinians, and Israel’s right to exist. Let’s look at each of those sentences:

“We are literally watching people commit genocide and killing the vast majority just like this, and we still stand by and say nothing.”

Accusing Israel of committing genocide is not a new tactic. Each time Israel is attacked and vigorously defends herself she is accused of committing genocide. On October 7, 2023 it was crystal clear that Hamas launched an unprovoked and extraordinarily brutal attack on Israeli citizens. That attack even targeted children and infants. We know this to be true. We also know that Palestine when offered peace and its own land to call the nation of Palestine in 1947 - they refused. Why? Because the Palestinians would not accept a Jewish state. It is not Israel that in its defense is committing genocide it is Hamas.

“Israel just bombed the Baptist Hospital killing 500 Palestinians (doctors, children, patients) just like that.”

Within 24 hours, this was completely debunked by Israel and the United States. Even Al Jazeera refused to confirm the Palestinian claim. The event in question involved a Palestinian launched rocket that failed, landed in the hospital parking lot and rather than killing 500 people is believed to have killed somewhere between 10 to 50 people. Even radical islamist and U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar backed away from this assertion, however, Tlaib has not.

“The failure to recognize the violent reality of living under siege, occupation, and apartheid makes no one safer.”

Here is how Merriam-Wester defines “apartheid”: racial segregation

specifically : a former policy of segregation and political, social, and economic discrimination against the non-white majority in the Republic of South Africa

So, has “apartheid” resurfaced in Israel and are Palestinians in Israel segregated and from the Jewish population? No.

“According to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, the Arab population in 2019 was estimated at 1,890,000, representing 20.95% of the country's population. The majority of these identify themselves as Arab or Palestinian by nationality and Israeli by citizenship.”

More than 1,890,000 Palestinians who call themselves citizens of Israel, a Jewish state, is not a hallmark of apartheid.

There is nothing that can be done to punish or mute Tlaib, nor should there be at this point. So far her rhetoric falls well within her First Amendment right to free speech. As does Donald Trump 1) protesting the outcome of an election by trying to trigger his constitutional rights as a candidate disputing the vote in some states and precincts and 2) calling for a peaceful march.

It is up to the people of MI-12 to decide if Tlaib will remain the person they choose to represent them or to the House of Representatives to decide if she should be expelled for inciting an illegal act.

But it is firmly our responsibility to understand the rhetoric of antisemitism and not allow it to become enshrined in our national DNA as described in the most famous words of The Declaration of Independence:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed but their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

If the rights to “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” are bestowed on ALL MEN by our Creator that means not just Americans but ALL OF HUMANITY. Israel has a right to exist. No other group of people has a right to deny that to Israeli citizens and the Jewish people. These are things that Tlaib should know. After all she is an American lawyer and member of the U.S. House of Representatives. She either accepts the U.S. Constitution and our laws and all that they stand for or she does not. I think that her position is clear.


Union, Kentucky

20 October 2023