‘I will not be silenced:’ Insurgent ‘squad’ member Rashida Tlaib hits back despite being censured by House for her inflammatory comments and ‘incredible falsehoods’ following Hamas terror attacks against Israel

Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib hit back at her colleagues who voted for censure Tuesday night after embracing the controversial pro-Hamas song, “From the River to the Sea.”

“I will not be silenced and I will not let you twist my words. No government is above criticism,” the Michigan congressman said moments after 22 Democratic colleagues crossed the floor and cleared the way for the motion.

“The idea that criticizing Israel’s government is anti-Semitic sets a very dangerous precedent and is being used to silence diverse voices speaking out for human rights across our country,” Tlaib added.

Since Hamas’s barbaric invasion of Israel on October 7, Tlaib has made headlines with her inflammatory comments condemning Israel after the October 7 attacks that killed 1,400 people.

A Georgia Republican alleged that Tlaib was spreading “incredible falsehoods about America’s greatest ally.”

The Squad member is the only Palestinian-American member of Congress and has heavily criticized both the Biden administration and Israel during the war.
Although the censure of a legislator has no practical effect, it amounts to serious recriminations from colleagues, as legislators who are censured are usually asked to stand in the support of the House of Representatives while the censure resolution is read against them.

Tlaib has also been criticized by the White House and members of her own party for using the pro-Palestinian chant “from the river to the sea,” which many view as an anti-Semitic call for the destruction of Israel.

She even accused Biden of supporting “genocide” in Gaza and “complicity” in the deaths of children in the Middle East.

Rep. Brad Schneider, one of the Democrats who voted to censure Tlaib, said she had “repeatedly urged the use of inflammatory language that dangerously amplifies Hamas propaganda and disinformation.”

She choked up and accused her colleagues of silencing her in a defiant speech on the House floor on Tuesday afternoon.

‘My perspective is needed here now more than ever. I will not be silenced and I will not let you twist my words,” she said in an impassioned speech.

“There are millions of people in our country who do not support Netanyahu’s extremism and are tired of seeing our country support collective punishment,” she continued.

“My criticism has always been directed at the Israeli government,” Tlaib said. “The idea that criticizing the Israeli government is anti-Semitic sets a dangerous precedent.”

“I can’t believe I have to say this, but Palestinian people are not disposable. We are human beings.

“Just like my grandmother, like all Palestinians, who just wants to live her life with the freedom and human dignity that we all deserve,” Tlaib continued, holding up a photo of her grandmother who lives on Palestinian territory.

Republican Rep. Rich McCormick of Georgia pushed for the censorship measure in response to what he called Tlaib’s promotion of anti-Semitic rhetoric.

He said she has “expressed incredible falsehoods about our greatest ally, Israel.”

Democrats supported Tlaib, but she came under scrutiny for not immediately condemning Hamas after the October 7 atrocities.

On Sunday, she accused President Biden of “complicity in the deaths of children” and claimed he supported “genocide” in Gaza.

‘Your silence is deafening. Your complicity is even worse,” Tlaib wrote of Biden. ‘An entire generation of children is being wiped out before our eyes.

McCormick’s resolution called out Tlaib for “knowingly continuing to spread the false narrative that Israel deliberately bombed a hospital in Gaza.”

Israeli intelligence claimed that the hospital explosion, which killed dozens of people, was caused by a failed Hamas rocket.

It also recalled a video Tlaib posted featuring a chant often used by Palestinian militants: “from the river to the sea.”

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.

The resolution also mentioned Tlaib’s Oct. 8 statement after Hamas’s attack on Israel, which she called “resistance.”

The statement read: “I mourn the Palestinian and Israeli lives lost yesterday, today and every day. I am as 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.”