Representative Rashida Tlaib is facing criticism from all sides after posting a video with a rallying cry often used by Palestinian militants.
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.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib is facing criticism from all sides after posting a video with a rallying cry often used by Palestinian militants
Later, Tlaib claimed on Twitter that the phrase had not been used to promote violence.
Reps. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., Hilary Scholten, D-Md., and Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., are circulating a letter among Democrats condemning the use of the phrase. The letter reiterates Israel’s right to defend itself and its duty to protect civilians.
“We reject the use of the phrase ‘from the river to the sea’ – a phrase used by many, including Hamas, as a rallying cry for the destruction of the State of Israel and genocide of the Jewish people,” a draft version of the letter , obtained by DailyMail.com, read.
Tlaib also drew criticism from fellow Michigan Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who demanded she express “empathy.”
“The phrase ‘from the river to the sea’ is one of division and violence, and is counterproductive to promoting peace. None of us, least of all elected leaders, should amplify language that inflames a tense situation and makes it harder for our communities to find common ground,” Slotkin wrote on Twitter.
“If I knew that a phrase I had used had offended one of my constituents, I would apologize and retract it, regardless of its origin. I would ask the same of you.’
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., added: “This sentence means exterminating Israel and the Jews. Period of time. Dressing it up in a new PR trick won’t change that. Only a return of hostages, eliminating Hamas and liberating Gaza from oppressive terror will save civilian lives and secure the peace, justice and dignity you seek.”
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel attacked the congressman: “I have supported and defended you countless times, even when you have said the indefensible, because I believed you were a good person with your heart in the right place.”
Part of the clip posted by Tlaib on X
“But this is so painful for so many,” she added. “Please retract this cruel and hateful comment.”
Michigan’s Democratic Senate President Pro Tem Jeremy Moss wrote on X of the comment: “This is not how Jews view the phrase ‘from the river to the sea.’ This is not how Hamas views the phrase “from the river to the sea.”
Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., defended Tlaib while Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., accused her of “calling for genocide of Jewish people.”
‘This is a lie. This rhetoric is dangerous and must stop,” Bush wrote on X. “This endangers the lives of Rashida and the Palestinians everywhere who are fighting for their liberation.”
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.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., argued that lawmakers shouldn’t “fight with words.”
“What is happening now is a horror show,” he said of the ongoing conflict.
‘We don’t have to argue about words. Thousands of men, women and children are killed. It has to end now.’
He called Tlaib a “friend of mine” and noted that her family “is from Palestine.”
Further addressing Tlaib’s comments, he said:
“Words matter, but what’s even more important … is that you are dealing with a terrible humanitarian disaster that needs to be addressed now,” Sanders said. “This is a hugely complex issue and slogans like ‘from the river to the sea’, if that means the destruction of Israel, will not work. People who say: ‘Israel right or wrong, we are all for you’, that’s not going to work.”
But Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., reintroduced her resolution Monday to censure Tlaib, accusing her of “anti-Semitic activities and sympathizing with terrorist organizations.”
Last week, 23 Republicans voted against the resolution, criticizing language accusing Tlaib of inciting an “insurrection” by speaking at a ceasefire protest on Capitol Hill.
About 300 demonstrators were arrested during the protest.
Some Republicans took issue with the use of the word “insurrection,” and now the new resolution accuses Tlaib of “inciting an illegal occupation.”
Her calling ‘from river to sea’ also includes an ‘ambitious call for freedom’.
Meanwhile, Rep. Rich McCormick, also a Republican from Georgia, his own resolution to censure Tlaib.
McCormick voted to introduce Greene’s resolution last week. His resolution took issue with the Michigan Democrat “for spreading false stories about Hamas’ 10/7 attack on Israel and calling for the destruction of the State of Israel.”
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.’
Tlaib, along with a number of other progressive Democrats, is associated with popular imam Omar Suleiman, who has made anti-Semitic statements.
Suleiman has hosted virtual meetings with Tlaib and Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., delivered a prayer before the House in 2019 and was praised by Rep. Collin Allred, D-Texas.
In 2022, Suleiman was photographed meeting with two prominent jihadists in Malaysia.
In 2012, Suleiman had been recorded saying: ‘We ask Allah to humiliate this Israel, the way Allah humiliated Beni Israel… We ask Allah to humiliate those who occupy the ‘land of Filastin (‘Palestine’).”
In 2013, Suleiman appeared in a YouTube video talking about the ‘Bani Israel’, an Islamic term for the Jewish people. He quoted an Islamic text that said: ‘If it were not for Bani Israel, the meat would not spoil’… ‘the food would never grow stale.’ Suleiman summarized the idea by saying, “The blessing of food that we see today is decaying and becoming stale and rotten… if it had not been for Bani Israel, that would not have even happened. So today we still see the consequences of that.