She will be sorely missed.
BTW several House members had a serious problem with her being censured. Apparently, it's okay to support Hamas and call for the destruction of Israel on the House floor. Who are these American patriots you ask?
Rep Cory Raskin and Other “Squad” Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) also denounced House Republicans, with Pressley calling the censure “Islamophobic.”
House set to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib over defense of Hamas, calls to destroy Israel
By Josh Christenson
Published Nov. 7, 2023, 5:06 p.m. ET
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The House of Representatives was on track Tuesday night to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) for defending Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack against Israel as “resistance” and calling for the destruction of the Jewish state.
A move by Democratic lawmakers to kill the resolution against the “Squad” rep failed 213-208, with 202 Democrats and GOP Reps. Ken Buck of Colorado, John Duarte of California, Mike Garcia of California, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Tom McClintock of California, and Ryan Zinke of Montana voting in support.
Every other Republican member — with the exception of Anthony D’Esposito of New York, Daniel Webster of Florida and Jim Banks of Indiana, who were all absent — voted against tabling the censure.
Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.) voted present, and eight other Democratic lawmakers were absent.
The House is scheduled for a final vote on censuring Tlaib Wednesday.
Tlaib criticized for defending calls for genocide.
The resolution mentions Tlaib’s Nov. 3 video post on X, which included the first portion of the phrase “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a call for the eradication of Israel.
The resolution, introduced by Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.), notes Tlaib’s “false narratives” around the Oct. 7 attack, in which jihadists slaughtered 1,400 civilians in Israel — including at least 33 American citizens.
Most recently, the resolution mentions Tlaib’s Nov. 3 video post on X, which included the first portion of the phrase “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a call for the eradication of Israel that she later “doubled down” on.
Tlaib responded by saying the phrase is “an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate.”
Seventy House Democrats signed onto a statement led by Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) following the floor deliberations on Tuesday that rejected the use of the phrase, declaring it “a rallying cry for the destruction of the State of Israel and genocide of the Jewish people.”
Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., talks with reporters after a meeting of the House Republican Conference in the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, September 27, 2023.
“We support Israel’s right and obligation to defend itself — to protect its citizens, secure its borders, and rescue its people held hostage in Gaza,” the statement reads. “Israel also has the obligation to, as best as possible, protect civilians, and in all its actions adhere to international humanitarian law (notwithstanding Hamas’ complete disregard for the same).”
The resolution also states the Michigan Democrat “defended the brutal rapes, murders, beheadings and kidnapping — including of Americans — by Hamas as justified ‘resistance’” within 24 hours of the attack.
The censure further cites lies Tlaib spread about the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital bombing on Oct. 17, which she claimed had been perpetrated by the Israeli military — despite President Biden and the US intelligence community assessing with “high confidence” that it was caused by the Hamas-linked Palestine Islamic Jihad.
Democrats, led by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), denounced the censure resolution as an attempt to silence the voice of the only Palestinian-American elected to Congress during a debate on the floor following the vote.
US Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) joins demonstrators as they gather to call for the release of Israeli hostages in front of the Red Cross headquarters in Washington, DC, on November 5, 2023. Demonstrators plan on gathering in front of the Red Cross every Sunday until the Israeli hostages are released. Thousands of people, both Israeli and Palestinians, have died since October 7, 2023, after Palestinian Hamas militants based in the Gaza Strip, entered southern Israel in a surprise attack leading Israel to declare war on Hamas in Gaza the following day.
House Democrats led by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) denounced the censure resolution as an attempt to silence the voice of the only Palestinian-American elected to Congress.
AFP via Getty Images
“This resolution is about one thing and one thing only: the punishment of speech,” Raskin said. “We don’t punish people for their political ideas, no matter how wrongheaded or offensive we think they are.”
“The punishment of political viewpoints will mean members will be censured just for being in the minority rather than in the majority,” he added.
Other “Squad” Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) also denounced House Republicans, with Pressley calling the censure “Islamophobic.”
The censure further cites lies Tlaib spread about the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital bombing on Oct. 17 being perpetrated by the Israeli military.
Rashida Tlaib
Tlaib defended her statements in brief remarks from the floor, claiming that Republicans were twisting her words.
“I will not be silenced, and I will not let you distort my words,” Tlaib said. “Trying to bully or censor me won’t work because this movement for a ceasefire is much bigger than one person. It’s growing every single day.”
But McCormick and Republicans said the resolution was well within the precedent of previous censures voted on by the House and was solely concerned with holding Tlaib accountable for her statements.
Other GOP lawmakers pointed to antisemitism being at an all-time high in the US and mass protests that took place in Washington, DC, last weekend in support of Hamas’ actions.
Getty Images
“This is not about a First Amendment issue. Rashida Tlaib has a right to spew antisemitic vitriol, even call for the destruction of the Jewish state,” McCormick told members.
“But the House of Representatives also has the right to make it clear that her hate speech does not reflect the opinion of the chamber. And that’s what this resolution is about,” he said.
“When you’ve called for the annihilation of a country and its people — if that’s not worthy of censure, what is?”
Pro-Palestinian graffiti is seen on a statue of Major General Comte Jean de Rochambeau in Lafayette Park near the White House on November 06, 2023 in Washington, DC. Over the weekend thousands rallied during the National March on Washington for Palestine calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
“We saw over 200,000 people rallying in support of the terrorist organization Hamas that committed these atrocities in Israel,” said Rep. Derrick Van Orden. “They defaced our national monuments.”
Other GOP lawmakers pointed to antisemitism being at a decades-high level in the US and mass protests that took place in Washington, DC, over the weekend weekend in support of Hamas’ actions.
“They defaced our national monuments and the White House. But most disturbing, in this House, the House that freed men from the scourge of slavery and women’s suffrage, we have a member that not only supports this organization, Hamas, that slaughtered these Jews, but has actively called for the eradication of the Jews by promoting the slogan from the ‘river to the sea’ on social media.”
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