In a now-deleted tweet, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) on Thursday blamed “white supremacy” for the recent deadly shooting in New Jersey that targeted Jews. The gun battle, which resulted in the death of a police officer and three civilians, was actually perpetrated by a black supremacist group known as the Black Hebrew Israelites. The two suspects were also killed.
“This is heartbreaking. White supremacy kills,” the far-Left “squad” member tweeted in response to the shooting.
Both suspects were identified as followers of the Black Hebrew Israelites (BHI), an anti-Semitic hate group that is known for anti-government and anti-police sentiments.
Confirmed photos of the Jersey City shooters have been released. David Anderson & Francine Graham were followers of the black nationalist, anti-Semitic sect, the Black Hebrew Israelites. They killed one officer before launching an attack at the kosher market that killed 3 more. pic.twitter.com/gFCFS8riBm
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) December 12, 2019
Vox reporter Jane Coaston also seemed to blame the group’s violence on “white nationalist groups,” arguing on Twitter that it is “basically Christian Identity” for black people.”
One thing we see with white nationalist groups (and since HI is basically Christian Identity for black people, it makes sense) is that “membership” can be an amorphous idea.
— Jane Coaston 🏔️ (@janecoaston) December 11, 2019
Yet according to according to Oren Segal, the director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, BHI “reject Christianity, Islam, Judaism and [claim] that the true Jews are black.”
Segal told NJ.com that there different sects often have differing tenets, but “the core of the movement” believes “black people are the true children of Israel and Jews are imposters.”
Law enforcement officials found a pipe bomb in the back of the gunmen’s stolen U-Haul along with notes with religious writings, ABC7 reported.
The bomb squad detonated the device, though it remains unclear what the suspects had planned to do with it. Officials say it is a key component of the investigation.
BHI is the same group that taunted the Covington Catholic High School boys with hateful and vitriolic slurs in Washington D.C. in January, before the now infamous incident involving Native American activist and hoaxer Nathan Phillips.
The BHI members shouted profanities at the boys, calling them names such as “cracker,” “faggot,” and “pedophile,” and singled out a black student for abuse, saying he was a “n*gger” who was going to be murdered and have his organs harvested by the white kids.
The Covington kids had just participated in the annual March for Life and were waiting by the Lincoln Memorial for their bus to take them back to Kentucky. That’s when they were first viciously heckled by the BHI activists and accosted by Phillips, who later lied about the encounter, telling reporters that the kids had racially targeted him. The media maliciously spread the false narrative that the kids were racist rednecks mobbing a Native American elder with hateful slurs, without doing even a minimum of fact-checking. Their lack of due diligence has led to multiple lawsuits.
Unsurprisingly, Tlaib came out on the wrong side of that incident, as well, in a tweet that is still live:
This is so hard to watch. It reminds us of the growing hate & oppression we are all up against. #TakeOnHate https://t.co/wqZKbhmvEb
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) January 19, 2019
Nicholas Sandmann, the youth who was accused of the high crime of “smirking” at Phillips while the activist banged a drum in his face, recalled on Twitter that members of the anti-Semitic cult had shouted “there won’t be any peace until blood is shed,” during their confrontation with the boys.
“I am just learning of the anti-semitic attacks carried out in Jersey City by the Black Hebrew Israelites,” Sandmann wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. “A group that believes “there won’t be any peace until blood is shed,” or at least that was shouted at us. It is deeply disturbing and scary that they acted out on those words.”
In a subsequent tweet, the teen dinged the media for refusing to cover the group’s shocking and incendiary behavior during the encounter. “I don’t know if this tragedy could’ve been prevented and I can’t understand the pain that the families of the victims are going through. What I do know is that this vile group never received significant attention in the media following January.”
“I remember Savanah Guthrie asking me why I was intimidated because there were more of us,” the teen wrote, referring to his January 22 interview with the NBC “Today” anchor. “Maybe it’s because the Hebrew Israelites are fine with murder. I’m going to be offering my thoughts, prayers, and support in any way I can,” Sandmann wrote.