Tlaib: It’s a ‘shame’ colleagues more focused on ‘silencing me’ than saving lives

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) in a Tuesday statement criticized her colleagues’ attempts to silence her, saying they were more focused on controlling her words than saving the lives of people in Gaza under siege from Israel’s attack on Hamas.

The House later Tuesday is expected to vote on two separate measures censuring Tlaib over remarks she has made about the Israel-Gaza war.

“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,” Tlaib wrote in a Tuesday statement.

“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,” she said. “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.”

Tlaib also reiterated her call for a cease-fire in Gaza, saying that every new day of fighting “brings more death and destruction upon innocent civilians, who have nowhere safe to go, drawing outrage and condemnation from the American people and the international community.”

“I will continue to work for a just and lasting peace that upholds the human rights and dignity of all people, centers peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians, and ensures that no person, no child has to suffer or live in fear of violence,” she said.

The House early Tuesday afternoon is expected to vote on a resolution sponsored by Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) to censure Tlaib.

McCormick’s measure accuses Tlaib of “promoting false narratives regarding the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and for calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.” The legislation mentions a statement from Tlaib on Oct. 8, which pins the blame of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack in part on aid the U.S. has provided Israel.

It also said Tlaib “knowingly spread the false narrative” that Israel bombed a hospital in Gaza, and it references her social media post over the weekend that included a video with the phrase “from the river to the sea.”

In a break from a separate resolution the House is expected to on Tuesday evening that is sponsored by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), the McCormick resolution would not require Tlaib to present herself in the well of the House to receive the formal censure.

It’s possible some Democrats could back the McCormick measure, and members of both parties will be watching the vote closely after a different measure from Greene failed last week.

Tlaib came under criticism from members of both parties for her social media post Friday that included the “from the river to the sea” phrase and said President Biden “supported the genocide of the Palestinian people.”

The criticism of Biden, who has backed Israel’s attack on Hamas while urging Israel to take steps to reduce civilian casualties, was perhaps the sharpest on the war from a Democratic lawmaker. Polls suggest Biden is losing support among young and minority voters, and the Israel war has been seen as a factor.

Tlaib’s use of the phrase “from the river to the sea” has sparked criticism from a number of her Democratic colleagues, including Michigan Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D), who urged her to not use it.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) calls the phrase antisemitic because it would call for a free Palestine from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River — a space occupied by the state of Israel.

“It is an antisemitic charge denying the Jewish right to self-determination, including through the removal of Jews from their ancestral homeland,” the ADL writes, while noting the phrase has been commonly used by anti-Israel voices.

Tlaib has said the phrase is aspirational for a long-persecuted Palestinian people, and others defending its use have said it is about everyone living in the area in an egalitarian way.

“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,” she wrote in a Friday post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.