Netanyahu salutes Congress for Tlaib censure

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the recent censure of Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) in a Thursday interview on Fox News.

“[W]hat this congresswoman is calling for, is policide and genocide, the elimination of the Jewish state, the one and only Jewish state of the Jewish people,” Netanyahu told Fox News anchor Bret Baier.

“So, that’s absurd, and I salute the Congress for [censuring] her,” Netanyahu continued. 

Tlaib was censured Tuesday for her criticism of Israel amid its conflict with the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Twenty-two of her Democratic colleagues joined a majority of House Republicans in the vote to censure the Michigan Democrat. 

In a video posted to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, over the weekend, Tlaib said that President Biden “supported the genocide of the Palestinian people.” The video also featured clips of protestors chanting “from the river to the sea,” a phrase the Anti-Defamation League characterizes as antisemitic. She also defended the use of the phrase in a following post.

The Michigan Democrat earned criticism from both sides of the political aisle for her remarks. In a statement, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) criticized Tlaib’s use of the phrase, saying it is “widely understood as calling for the complete destruction of Israel” and “unacceptably risks further polarization, division and incitement to violence.”

Netanyahu also slammed her use of the phrase, saying, “‘From the river to the sea’ means there’s no Israel.”

Tlaib became the second Democrat and lawmaker to get censured this year, following California Rep. Adam Schiff’s (D) censure in June for his work in opposition of former President Trump. 

“We are human beings just like anyone else,” Tlaib said in remarks trying to defend herself from censure Tuesday, holding up a photo of her grandmother. “My grandmother, like all Palestinians, just wants to live her life with freedom and human dignity we all deserve. Speaking up to save lives, Mr. Chair, no matter faith, no matter ethnicity, should not be controversial in this chamber.”