The only Palestinian-American legislator in Congress, Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib, was censured by the U.S. House on Tuesday over remarks she made about Israel’s conflict with Hamas in Gaza.
A majority of Republicans in the chamber, along with twenty-two Democrats, voted to reprimand Tlaib for allegedly “promoting false narratives” on Hamas’ gun spree in Israel on October 7 and “calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.”
Representative Richard McCormick, a Republican, sponsored the motion. The final tally of votes in favor of censure in the Republican-controlled chamber was 234-188. Three Democrats and one Republican abstained from voting, while four Republicans opposed the proposal.
The resolution particularly referenced a social media video that Tlaib posted that featured the pro-Palestinian rallying cry “from the river to the sea,” which many Jews consider to be antisemitic and to advocate for the elimination of Israel.
Additionally, she infuriated a lot of her fellow Democrats on Friday when she uploaded a video in which she charged Joe Biden with endorsing “the genocide of the Palestinian people.” Israel fiercely denies any genocide charges.
Tlaib has been critical of U.S. support for Israel as the country’s military retaliates with shelling that has killed thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, and he has consistently denounced Hamas’s assault, which claimed around 1,400 lives.
“My criticism has always been of the Israeli government and (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu’s actions… The idea that criticizing the government of Israel is antisemitic sets a very dangerous precedent,” Tlaib said.
“Palestinian people are not disposable,” Tlaib added emotionally, since her grandmother lives in a village in the occupied West Bank, territory Israel captured in a 1967 war.
The censure has no particular consequence and is largely symbolic. Republicans censured Democrat Adam Schiff for his investigation into former President Donald Trump while he was in office, while Democrats censured Republican Representative Paul Gosar in 2021 for sharing an animated video showing his character killing Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
