Rep. Rashida Tlaib says she won’t ‘ever forget’ colleagues that met with ‘genocidal maniac’ Benjamin Netanyahu as death toll in Gaza tops 20,000

Democrat 'Squad' member Rashida Tlaib branded Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu a 'genocidal maniac' and told her own party colleagues they are supporting a war criminal.

The outspoken Michigan representative was criticized and labeled anti-Semitic by Congress last month for defending the Oct. 7 attack that killed 1,200 Israelis as “resistance.”

But she stepped up her rhetoric against the Israeli prime minister, claiming he is “working to remove Palestinians from Gaza” as the death toll in the enclave has surpassed 21,000.

“Genocide maniac,” the Palestine-born activist wrote on Instagram Stories.

“Every member of Congress who sits down with this murderer is supporting a war criminal.

“I am so tired of our country funding and supporting a genocide and war against children,” she later added.

'Please don't stop talking about Palestine.'

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched on Times Square and the World Trade Center last night, continuing protests in a week in which anti-Israel demonstrators have shut down traffic at JFK Airport.

Chants like “Biden, you'll see, Palestine will be free” and “Israel bombs, the US pays, how many children did you kill today?” was part of the demonstrators' rhetoric.

Effigies of children murdered in Gaza were seen after people took part in the silent procession organized partly by older Jewish groups through Midtown Manhattan earlier Thursday.

According to Mayor Eric Adams of New York, there have been more than 500 demonstrations in the city since the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel on October 7, in which 1,200 people were killed.

Adams, a Democrat, admitted it was likely that protesters would try to disrupt the annual New Year's Eve party in Times Square, where more than a million people often gather at midnight to celebrate.

One protester, Katie Unger, referenced preparing for the celebration in a post on X as she marched.

“They're celebrating New Year's Eve in Times Square. We are here to insist that the people of Gaza and Palestine also have the right to a prosperous, peaceful New Year.”

It comes a day after police arrested pro-Palestinian protesters who blocked access to New York City's John F. Kennedy Airport on one of the busiest travel days of the year.

Travelers were forced to get out of their cars and walk with their luggage to the airport in New York after activists demanding a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas blocked the road to one of the country's largest and busiest airports on Wednesday. country had blocked.

Port Authority police were notified of the protest activity on the Van Wyck Expressway at JFK Airport around 11:30 a.m.

Police said 26 arrests were made for disorderly conduct and obstructing vehicular traffic. The roadway was reopened at 11:50 am.

But released Israeli hostage Mia Schem, 21, who spent 54 days in Hamas hands, said “everyone” in Gaza is a “terrorist” as she made her first interview since her release on November 30.

“I wanted to project the real situation about the people living in Gaza, who they really are and what I experienced there,” she told Israel's Channel 13.

“I lived through a holocaust,” she said. “Everyone there is a terrorist.”

Schem, a French-Israeli tattoo artist from Shoham in central Israel, claimed she was held with a civilian family, with children, while in Gaza.

“They're families under the Hamas regime, you know. I realized I was staying with a family. And then I start asking myself questions… why am I staying with a family? Why are there children here? Why is there a woman here?'

Before she was released, she had to film a video talking about her experiences, in which she said: “People very good, very kind to me… Food is good and the friendliness and everything is good.”

The report made headlines because it contradicted the stories of other hostages who told of abuse in captivity, raising concerns that she had spoken against her will.

The 21-year-old has since shared photos of herself on Instagram with a new tattoo that reads 'We will dance again. 7.10.23'

The message, uploaded two weeks ago, read: 'I will never forget the 7.10.23.

'The pain and fear, the hard scenes, the friends who don't come back and the ones we have to bring back.

“But we'll still win, we'll still dance!”