A group that represents thousands of rabbis has slammed Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a member of the so-called “squad,” for introducing a congressional resolution recognizing a Palestinian day of commemoration to lament the founding of Israel.
On Monday, Tlaib introduced the measure, the House Resolution Recognizing the Nakba and Palestinian Refugees’ Rights. The “Nakba” — the “catastrophe” in Arabic — is a term used by Palestinian activists to describe the founding of the Jewish state. Nakba Day is commemorated on May 15. (Israel declared its independence on May 14, 1948.)
(This isn’t the first time that Tlaib has faced serious allegations of anti-Semitism, and she’s hardly alone in that matter on the “squad.” Here at The Western Journal, we continue to chronicle the anti-Semitism of the far left, even when the mainstream media won’t do it. You can help us bring America the truth by subscribing.)
The resolution, H.Res. 1123, is now in the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. According to The Times of Israel, it marks the first attempt to get the United States to formally recognize the Nakba.
“This Sunday was a day of solemn remembrance of all the lives lost, families displaced, and neighborhoods destroyed during the violent and horror of the Nakba,” Tlaib, who is of Palestinian descent, said in a media release.
“The scars bourn [sic] by the close to 800,000 Palestinians who were forced from their family homes and their communities, and those killed are burned into the souls of the people who lived through the Nakba.”
“The Israeli apartheid government’s ongoing ethnic cleansing seeks to degrade Palestinian humanity and break the will of the people to be free,” Tlaib’s statement continued.
“Fortunately, as Palestinians and their allies prove time and time again, we will persist no matter the circumstances until peace, freedom, equity and respect for all people are secured and protected.”
The statement went on to say that the Nakba “refers to the mass expulsion of Palestinian Arabs from British Mandate Palestine during Israel’s creation” and “did not end in 1948 and continues to this day.”
Do you think this resolution is anti-Semitic?
“On this day, we must promote human rights & justice. The Palestinian people since the 48 Nakba have been living under oppression and violent racism. Silence + blank checks enables more death and violence,” the Michigan representative said on Twitter. She also thanked her co-sponsors — including fellow “squad” members Reps. Jamaal Bowman of New York, Cori Bush of Missouri, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and, of course, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.
On this day, we must promote human rights & justice. The Palestinian people since the 48 Nakba have been living under oppression and violent racism. Silence + blank checks enables more death and violence.
— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) May 16, 2022
A special thank you to @RepMarieNewman, @BettyMcCollum04, @Ilhan & @RepAOC for joining me as original cosponsors of the #NakbaResolution and to all the incredible people all across America who continue to stand for what is right, no matter how hard the fight may be.
— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) May 16, 2022
Another special thank you to @RepCori and @RepBowman for joining as cosponsors.
— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) May 17, 2022
As you can guess by that incendiary language — including references to Israel being an “apartheid” state and its allegedly “ongoing ethnic cleansing” — this quickly became a point of contention, particularly given Tlaib’s history.
In a Wednesday statement, the Coalition for Jewish Values, which represents “over 2,000 rabbis in matters of American public policy,” called the resolution “openly antisemitic” and “an indelible stain on Congress.”
“Arab armies responded to Israel’s founding with a call for genocide, and have continued with repeated wars and horrific acts of terrorism for the sole purpose of killing Jews and destroying the world’s only Jewish state,” Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, the organization’s Israel regional vice president, said in the statement.
“They proclaimed their intent in 1948 as a ‘momentous massacre,’ to kill all Jews in Israel as Hitler did in Germany, and what they call a ‘Nakba’ is that they fell 99 percent short of that obscene goal.”
Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld, president of the organization, demanded that lawmakers reject the resolution.
“Every Member of Congress, especially those who are Jewish, has a moral obligation to repudiate this hateful resolution, and the real catastrophe is that we have reached the point that this was introduced,” Schonfeld said in the statement.
“This indelible stain on Congress is a direct result of the failure of its leaders to act against anti-Semitism as it festered over the past three years, and it is long overdue for the Speaker of the House of Representatives to not merely issue platitudes about anti-Semitism, but to lead the House in censuring those who voice it.”
The rabbinical group also noted that “Tlaib has a history of anti-Semitic remarks, beginning with referring to the only Middle Eastern country with a significant Jewish population as a ‘racist’ country.”
And it wasn’t just a group representing thousands of rabbis condemning Tlaib. Jewish groups from both major political parties condemned the Michigan Democrat for her statement, as well.
“The root of the catastrophe: the Arab world refused to accept the UN plan for a Jewish and Arab state in what was left of the UK’s Palestine Mandate after Jordan’s creation. Instead, five Arab armies invaded Israel, attempting to destroy it and push the Jews into the Mediterranean Sea,” the Democratic Majority for Israel tweeted.
The root of the catastrophe: the Arab world refused to accept the UN plan for a Jewish & Arab state in what was left of the UK’s Palestine Mandate after Jordan’s creation. Instead, 5 Arab armies invaded Israel, attempting to destroy it & push the Jews into the Mediterranean Sea. https://t.co/VTSgQy0fXm
— Democratic Majority for Israel (@DemMaj4Israel) May 16, 2022
“This is another attempt by the most radical leftists in Congress to delegitimize our ally Israel and to promote anti-Israel and frankly antisemitic efforts to destroy the only democracy in the Middle East,” said Republican Jewish Coalition chairman and former Minnesota senator Norm Coleman.
“The fact that such a resolution could be introduced at all demonstrates that the Democratic leadership in the House is completely unwilling or unable to rein in the worst impulses of their caucus.”
Democratic leadership in the House is completely unwilling or unable to rein in the worst impulses of their caucus. @RJC‘s full response to the “Nakba” Resolution: pic.twitter.com/OR3cfXAapV
— RJC (@RJC) May 18, 2022
When a left-leaning group like the Democratic Majority for Israel — which bills itself as “the voice of pro-Israel Democrats” — teams up with a solidly Republican group like the Republican Jewish Coalition, it should be indicative of how egregious Tlaib’s resolution — and the language it used — really is.
And a reminder: Tlaib’s anti-Semitism didn’t begin at merely calling Israel “racist.” After she was barred from visiting Israel along with Rep. Omar in 2019, both congresswomen shared a cartoon drawn by an anti-Semitic artist whose work has been featured in Iran’s International Holocaust Cartoon Contest. (If you had to ask, Iran’s contest isn’t meant to commemorate those lost in the Holocaust.)
Oof. Looks like both Rep. Omar and Rep. Tlaib shared this awful Carlos Latuff cartoon in Instagram stories yesterday. In 2006, Latuff came in second in Iran’s International Holocaust Cartoon Contest, which is a thing that exists, in case you thought the TL couldn’t get any worse. pic.twitter.com/uwyBPAsz7T
— Batya Ungar-Sargon (@bungarsargon) August 18, 2019
Earlier in 2019, Tlaib had come under fire for telling a podcast there was “kind of a calming feeling I always tell folks when I think of the Holocaust, and the tragedy of the Holocaust, and the fact that it was my ancestors, Palestinians, who lost their land and some lost their lives, their livelihood, their human dignity, their existence in many ways, have been wiped out, and some people’s passports.”
In addition to times where one would argue she’s been openly anti-Semitic, she’s been profoundly anti-Israel.
Last September, she opposed replenishing Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, saying the Jewish state used American aid to “commit war crimes.” She was also one of four House Democrats to introduce legislation to stop an arms sale to the country and has supported the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions movement, or BDS, which seeks to treat Israel on similar terms to apartheid-era South Africa.
If there’s one thing that can get Republicans, Democrats and a group representing thousands of rabbis in agreement, it’s that Tlaib’s Nakba resolution — coupled with her history — is totally unacceptable.
Don’t expect Democratic leadership to rein her in, however. Just like every other time a member of the “squad” has done something appallingly anti-Semitic, Tlaib’ll be allowed to walk away from this one undamaged.
