Rashida Tlaib’s fiery criticism of Israel sparks a new censorship battle in the House of Representatives: White House calls congresswoman’s ‘genocide’ accusation ‘irresponsible’
The House is now locked in a battle of censure, as Rep. Rashida Tlaib continues to defend her use of a rallying cry often used by Palestinian militants.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has reintroduced her measure to censure Tlaib, D-Mich., after 23 Republicans voted against it last week — this time accusing Tlaib of being behind an “illegal occupation” in place of an uprising. ‘ in reference to a ceasefire protest on Capitol Hill.
Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., has filed a separate Tlaib censure resolution over her rhetoric. Both measures are privileged and must be voted on within two days.
Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-California, who is Jewish, has filed a retaliation resolution to target Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., for comparing Palestinian citizens to Nazis.
Jacobs’ resolution cites “inflammatory statements about innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza who are in danger through no fault of their own.”
The House of Representatives is now locked in a battle of censure as Representative Rashida Tlaib continues to defend her use of a rallying cry often used by Palestinian militants.
The White House called Tlaib’s use of the word “genocide” to describe Israel’s counteroffensive “irresponsible.”
“I would encourage the other side not to take the idea of innocent Palestinian civilians so lightly. I don’t think we would throw around the term innocent Nazi civilians so lightly,” Mast said in a speech last week.
On Friday, Tlaib posted a video criticizing President Biden’s response to the war in Gaza.
The video showed a crowd chanting “from the river to the sea,” a phrase used to call for a Palestinian takeover of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, which includes Israel.
The chant is widely used by those who do not believe that Israel has a right to exist.
‘(Biden), tThe majority of the American people disagree with you on this. #CeasefireNow,” Tlaib wrote on Twitter alongside the clip.
Later, Tlaib claimed on Twitter that the phrase had not been used to promote violence.
“From the River to the Sea is an ambitious call for freedom, human rights and peaceful coexistence, and not for death, destruction or hatred,” she wrote on Twitter on Friday.
Meanwhile, Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American in Congress, accused her colleagues of being “more focused on silencing me than saving lives as the death toll in Gaza surpasses 10,000.”
“Many of them have shown that Palestinian lives still do not matter to them, but I do not monitor their rhetoric,” she said, adding a new call for a ceasefire.
“A majority of Americans support a ceasefire, but this Congress is not listening to their voices. “I will continue to call for a mutual ceasefire, the release of hostages and arbitrary detainees, the immediate delivery of humanitarian aid, and the return of every American.”
Palestinians recover the body of a child from the rubble of a building, in Khan Yunis on November 6, 2023
Meanwhile, the White House stressed that it is “irresponsible” to accuse the US of complicity in a genocide, as Rep. Rashida Tlaib did, while some Democrats are starting to sour on the president’s handling of the war in Gaza.
“Of course we don’t,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told Fox News.
‘As terrible as all these civilian casualties are, we know there are many thousands of them, we don’t want any more casualties. “I don’t want to downplay that at all, but you can’t look at what’s happening in Gaza and say it meets the definition of genocide.”
“We think that’s an irresponsible way to describe this,” he added. “That said, we don’t want any civilians to get hurt.”
On Sunday, Tlaib shared a report on three children killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon, writing to President Biden on her Instagram Story: “Your silence is deafening. Your complicity is even worse,” Tlaib wrote. ‘An entire generation of children is being wiped out before our eyes.’
“Joe Biden supported the genocide of the Palestinian people,” captions at the end of the video. “The American people will not forget.”
“Biden, support a ceasefire now, or don’t count on us in 2024,” it added.
According to the IDF, about 1,400 Israelis were killed in a Hamas attack on October 7. About 10,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s bloody counterattack to wipe out Hamas, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Neither figure has been independently verified.