Defiant Rep. Rashida Tlaib said on the House floor that she will not be “silenced” following a decision to censure her.
Tlaib, D-Mich., noted that she is the only Palestinian in Congress. “My perspective is needed here more than ever. “I will not be silenced and I will not allow you to twist my words,” she said in an impassioned speech.
“There are millions of people in our country who do not support Netanyahu’s extremism and are tired of watching our country support collective punishment,” she continued.
“My criticism has always been of the Israeli government,” Tlaib said. “The idea that criticism of the Israeli government is anti-Semitic sets a dangerous precedent.”
“I can’t believe I have to say this, but the Palestinian people are not disposable.” We are human. “Just like my grandmother, like all Palestinians who just want to live their lives in the freedom and human dignity that we all deserve,” Tlaib continued, holding up a photo of her grandmother, who lives in Palestinian territory.
The House voted Tuesday to advance a resolution censuring Rep. Rashida Tlaib, even as a number of Republicans sided with Democrats over free speech concerns.
An attempt to table or reject the resolution failed by a vote of 208 to 213. Nearly all Democrats, including many of those who expressed concerns about Tlaib’s words, voted in favor of the motion to table the resolution.
The decision will now be voted on on Wednesday. Censure is a form of public correction without formal consequences.
The reprimand came after Tlaib defended the use of a rallying cry by Palestinian militants – “From the river to the sea.”
The House of Representatives voted Tuesday to advance a resolution censuring Rep. Rashida Tlaib after a number of Republicans sided with Democrats over free speech concerns
Six Republicans voted with Democrats to file the resolution: Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., Mike Garcia, R-Calif., Tom McClintock, R-Calif., John Duarte, R-Calif., Ryan Zinke, R-Texas, and Ken Buck, R-Colo.
One Democrat, Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., voted present for the resolution. Another, Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., voted in favor. The Republican-led resolution was saved by a series of Democratic absences.
At the same time, 70 Democrats signed a statement led by Schneider condemning the use of the phrase “from the river to the sea,” calling it “a rallying cry for the destruction of the State of Israel and the genocide of the Jewish people.”
Republicans who opposed the resolution had concerns about free speech and said the criticism was a waste of time.
“I will censure the next person who makes a censure,” Rep. Thomas Massie, who voted no, told reporters.
“We should all stop this nonsense,” said Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo. “People will have different opinions, sometimes they will confuse the facts. “So be it, let your voters make that decision.”
Democratic leadership warned its rank-and-file members against “dividing” Congress by voting for the Republican-led measure.
A handful of Democrats signaled they would vote with their party to reject the resolution but would vote with Republicans when it passes Wednesday.
This privileged resolution was introduced by Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., forced a vote last week on a Tlaib censure resolution for “incitement of insurrection,” re at a ceasefire protest on Capitol Hill.
That resolution failed when 23 Republicans joined Democrats in voting against the resolution.
Greene re-introduced her own resolution, replacing “insurrection” with “illegal occupation.” Their decision will be voted on Tuesday evening.
House Republican leadership chose to hold the McCormick vote first because it had a better chance of passage, likely hoping that Greene would then withdraw her resolution.
This privileged resolution was introduced by Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga
McCormick voted to advance Greene’s resolution last week. His resolution targeted the Michigan Democrat “for spreading false narratives about the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2010 and calling for the destruction of the State of Israel.”
His resolution makes no mention of the ceasefire protest.
It accused Tlaib of “knowingly continuing to spread the false narrative that Israel intentionally bombed a hospital in Gaza.”
Israeli intelligence claimed the hospital explosion, which killed dozens of people, was caused by a Hamas rocket misfiring.
It also highlighted a video posted by Tlaib that featured a chant commonly used by Palestinian militants: “From the river to the sea.”
The chant is often used by those who do not believe Israel has a right to exist.
‘[Biden], the majority of the American people disagree with you on this issue. #CeasefireNow,” Tlaib wrote on Twitter along with the clip.
Tlaib later claimed on Twitter that the term was not used to promote violence.
“From the river to the sea is an ambitious call for freedom, human rights and peaceful coexistence, not for death, destruction or hatred,” she wrote on Twitter on Friday.
The resolution also mentioned Tlaib’s Oct. 8 statement following Hamas’ attack on Israel, which she described as a “resistance.”
The statement said: “I mourn for the Palestinians and Israelis who lost their lives yesterday, today and every day.” I remain committed to fighting for a just future in which everyone lives in peace, without fear and can live in true freedom, equal rights and human dignity. The path to this future must include lifting the blockade, ending the occupation and dismantling the apartheid system, which creates oppressive, dehumanizing conditions that can lead to resistance.”
Meanwhile, Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American member of Congress, accused her colleagues of being “more focused on silencing me than on saving lives as the death toll in Gaza exceeds 10,000.”
Republican Rep. Brian Mast of Florida compared Palestinians to Nazis and said in a wild tirade on the House floor that “very few” of them were innocent
“Many of them have shown that they still do not care about Palestinian lives, but I do not control their rhetoric,” she said, adding a new call for a ceasefire.
Rep. Sara Jacobs, a Jewish Democrat from California, introduced a retaliation resolution to censure Rep. Brian Mast, R-Florida, who also faces a vote this week, for comparing Palestinian civilians to Nazis.
Jacobs’ resolution cites “inflammatory statements about innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza who are in danger through no fault of their own.”
“I would encourage the other side not to give up the idea of innocent Palestinian civilians so lightly.” “I don’t think we would use the term ‘innocent Nazi civilians’ so lightly,” Mast said in a speech last week.
Weeks ago, Mast wore his Israel Defense Forces uniform all the way to Capitol Hill.