Late Tuesday, the House voted 234-188 to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D- Mich.) over her allegedly anti-Semitic rhetoric about the Israel-Hamas war. More than 20 Democrats joined Republicans to censure Tlaib, a Palestinian-American who has family in the West Bank.
🚨 BREAKING: House of Representatives has officially censures Democrat Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib “for promoting false narratives regarding the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and for calling for the destruction of the state of Israel”
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) November 8, 2023
The extraordinary rebuke came in response to her repeated use of the genocidal chant “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and after she disseminated Hamas propaganda on social media.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) describes the “from the river to the sea” chant as “an anti-Semitic slogan” and “rallying cry (that) has long been used by anti-Israel voices, including supporters of terrorist organizations such as Hamas.” The American Jewish Committee (AJC) explains that it “calls for the establishment of a State of Palestine from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, erasing the State of Israel and its people.”
Hamas, the terrorist group governing the Gaza strip, called for Israel’s destruction in its original governing charter in 1988.
“Calling for the elimination of the Jewish state, praising Hamas or other entities who call for Israel’s destruction, or suggesting that the Jews alone do not have the right to self-determination, is anti-Semitic,” the AJC says.
Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.), who introduced the resolution, said the chant is “widely recognized as a genocidal call to violence to destroy the state of Israel.”
Tlaib has defended the phrase, insisting that it is actually a call for “peaceful coexistence.”
“From the river to the sea is an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate. My work and advocacy is always centered in justice and dignity for all people no matter faith or ethnicity,” the embattled congresswoman wrote on X on November 3.
The congresswoman posted a video to X last week that features clips of protestors chanting “from the river to the sea.”
At the end of the video, a text on the screen says: “Joe Biden supported the genocide of the Palestinian people. The American people won’t forget,” and calls for Biden to support a ceasefire.
McCormick’s resolution also references Tlaib’s rush to blame Israel for the explosion at a hospital in Gaza last month.
In a social media post on October 17, Tlaib, like many major media outlets, echoed the early Hamas-sourced propaganda out of Gaza. But those reports were contradicted by American and Israeli intelligence, which subsequently concluded that the explosion was the result of a misfired Islamic Jihad rocket.
Initial news stories blaming the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for the blast, sparked massive pro-Palestinian protests across the world, and anti-Semitic attacks against Jews on college campuses.
The House voted to block a resolution from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) to censure Tlaib last week because it described a pro-Palestinian protest at the Capitol as an “insurrection,” which some Republican members opposed.
In a statement on October 25, Tlaib rejected the overwhelming evidence showing the hospital explosion was the result of an Islamic Jihad misfire: “I cannot uncritically accept Israel’s denials of responsibility as fact,” she said. “Both the Israeli and United States governments have long, documented histories of misleading the public about wars and war crimes.”
McCormick’s resolution states that Tlaib “continued to knowingly spread the false narrative that Israel intentionally bombed” the hospital.
In response to her censure, Tlaib said, “It’s a shame my colleagues are more focused on silencing me than they are on saving lives, as the death toll in Gaza surpasses 10,000. Many of them have shown me that Palestinian lives simply do not matter to them, but I still do not police their rhetoric or actions.”
“Rather than acknowledge the voice and perspective of the only Palestinian American in Congress, my colleagues have resorted to distorting my positions in resolutions filled with obvious lies,” Tlaib continued. “I have repeatedly denounced the horrific targeting and killing of civilians by Hamas and the Israeli government, and have mourned the Israeli and Palestinian lives lost.”
Members of the far-left “squad” delivered emotional speeches on the House floor in reaction to the vote to censure Tlaib.
Cori Bush just went on what is probably the most unhinged rant I've ever seen in Congress on the censure resolution of Rashida Tlaib.
She even refused to stop after the mic was cut off. pic.twitter.com/yon1HfFEaP
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 7, 2023
Ilhan Omar delivers a shrieking address to Congress to defend fellow Squad member and embattled Palestine First activist, Rashida Tlaib:
"Rashida will stand strong, and the Palestinian movement will continue for liberation until every single Palestinian has the right to live in… pic.twitter.com/C6odYWhdos
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) November 7, 2023
Tlaib is the 26th lawmaker to have been censured in the U.S. House of Representatives and the second member to be censured by the chamber this year. In June, Republicans voted to censure Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) for promulgating the false Russia collusion narrative about former President Donald Trump.
When Democrats controlled the House in 2021, they censored Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) for tweeting an anime video depicting himself, Rep. Marjory Taylor Green (R-Ga.) and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) as superheroes slaying Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Joe Biden in battle.