Rashida Tlaib accused of anti-Semitic slur, days after profane anti-Trump tirade
Trash Mouth
Less than a week after issuing
a profanity-infused call to impeach President Trump on her first day in
office, Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib is under fire from
Republican politicians and commentators for openly posting what they
call an anti-Semitic dog whistle on Twitter.
Top Republicans in
the Senate are also alleging that Democratic leaders are hoping to hide
the fact that Tlaib is just one of many new Democratic politicians in
Congress who harbor deeply anti-Israel views.
Tlaib, responding to
a post by Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday, suggested
that Senate Republicans were more loyal to Israel than the U.S., amid a
report that GOP leaders were planning to introduce a bill that would
punish companies that participate in the so-called "Boycott, Divestment,
and Sanctions" (BDS) global movement against Israel. BDS proponents
seek to pressure Israel through economic and other means -- often, until
Israel ceases to exist in its current form.
"They forgot what
country they represent," Tlaib, a Palestinian-American who made history
last week by becoming one of the first two Muslim women to ever serve in
Congress, wrote.
"This is the U.S. where boycotting is a right
& part of our historical fight for freedom & equality. Maybe a
refresher on our U.S. Constitution is in order, then get back to opening
up our government instead of taking our rights away," she added.
Florida
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, one of the Republican senators to
introduce the anti-BDS bill, immediately called Tlaib's post an
"anti-Semitic line" that perpetuates a longstanding "dual loyalty"
conspiracy that holds that Israel effectively controls Washington
politicians.
The accusation that Jewish politicians could be
vulnerable to having "dual loyalties" has been made for centuries in
various contexts, and has been seen widely as a religious-based attack
intent on undermining their leadership.
The posts by Sanders and
Tlaib specifically criticized Senate Republicans for planning to
introduce the "Strengthening America’s Security in the Middle East Act
of 2019," a pro-Israel series of bills, instead of legislation to end
the ongoing partial federal government shutdown, which entered its 17th
day on Monday.
The package of legislation
includes provisions reauthorizing the United States-Jordan Defense
Cooperation Act of 2015, and providing for new sanctions against Bashar
al-Assad's regime in Syria.
One of the bills in the package, the
Rubio-Manchin Combating BDS Act of 2018, also would "increase
protections for state and local governments in the United States that
decide to divest from, prohibit investment in, and restrict contracting
with companies knowingly engaged in commerce-related or
investment-related BDS activity targeting Israel," according to Senate
Republicans.
Critics have charged that the bill amounts to an
unconstitutional First Amendment violation, because it involves an
impermissible government punishment of speech based on its content.
(Similar laws restricting boycotts of Israel have been ruled unconstitutional.)
Rubio
wrote that the real reason Democrats were criticizing Republicans for
introducing the pro-Israel bill is that "a significant # of Senate
Democrats now support #BDS & Dem leaders want to avoid a floor vote
that reveals that."
In addition to Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats, Maryland Democratic Sens. Ben Cardin
and Chris Van Hollen have called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell, R-Ky., to resolve the shutdown before pressing on with a vote
on the pro-Israel bill. READ JUDGE JEANINE PIRRO'S MESSAGE TO TLAIB
"The
shutdown is not the reason Senate Democrats don’t want to move to
Middle East Security Bill," Rubio wrote, noting that "a huge argument"
had broken out last week over the issue.
Hours later, Tlaib
responded on Twitter: "Sen. Rubio, it's clear my earlier tweet was
critical of U.S. Senators like yourself, who are seeking to strip
Americans of their Constitutional right to free speech," she wrote. "The
American people need Trump and Republican Senators to focus on ending
the shutdown instead of inventing controversy to distract from your
inaction."
Nevertheless, there are visible signs that Tlaib's
approach may be becoming more mainstream among the Democratic Party's
progressive wing. The other Muslim woman to make history by winning her
election with Tlaib last year, Minnesota Democratic Rep. Illhan Omar, tweeted in 2012 that "Israel has hypnotized the world." Omar added: "May Allah awaken the peoople and help them see the evil doings of Israel."
Other
commentators similarly sounded the alarm about Tlaib's comments, and
noted that the media reaction was conspicuously minimal. (Trump, late
last year, was lambasted repeatedly in the media for allegedly issuing anti-Semitic "dog whistles" because of his criticisms of liberal billionaire George Soros.)
"Oddly,
many of those who hear dog whistles for a living aren't exactly perking
up at Tlaib accusing her critics of dual loyalty," Washington Free
Beacon editor Alex Griswold wrote on Twitter. "Nor, for that matter, did they have much to say about Omar's 'Israel has hypnotized the world' tweet."
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro went further, alleging in an op-ed that "Democrats have soured on Israel and warmed to anti-Semitism."
"The
truth is that the Democratic Party has been flirting with, and in some
cases openly embracing, anti-Semitism for years," Shapiro wrote. "That’s
why top members of the Democratic Party continue to kowtow to open
anti-Semites like Linda Sarsour and Louis Farrakhan; it’s why the
Democrats booed Jerusalem in the 2012 Democratic National Committee
platform; it’s why the Obama administration routinely played public
relations arm for the Iranian government; it’s why no major Democrat
will go on record condemning Tlaib or Ilhan Omar." MEDIA SPREAD FALSE NARRATIVE THAT CONSERVATIVES WERE OFFENDED BY OCASIO-CORTEZ DANCING
Tlaib
was photographed last week wearing Palestinian robes with Sarsour, a
proponent of Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. Farrakhan has
compared Jews to termites and praised Hitler.
Late last year, Tlaib publicly bucked Democratic Party leaders
by openly endorsing a one-state solution in the Middle East, and
calling for Israeli withdrawals and reduced military aid to Israel.
“It
has to be one state," Tlaib told In These Times magazine. "Separate but
equal does not work. I’m only 42 years old, but my teachers were of
that generation that marched with Martin Luther King. This whole idea of
a two-state solution, it doesn’t work.”
She added, referring to
Israel: "Americans should not be aiding any country that doesn’t support
human rights. I’ve been very clear. I will not support racist countries
that pick and choose who gets access to justice.”
Tlaib's
comments on Israel threatened to create new headaches for
Democrats already wrangling to control the party's fresh new progressive
wing. During a progressive MoveOn.org reception Thursday night,
Tlaib drew widespread condemnation by calling for Trump's impeachment using vulgar language as her son looked on.
"People
love you and you win," Tlaib shouted. "And when your son looks at you
and says, 'Momma, look you won. Bullies don't win.' And I said, 'Baby,
they don't, because we’re gonna go in there and we’re gonna impeach the
mother****er.'”
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) poses with Speaker of the House Nancy
Pelosi (D-CA) for a ceremonial swearing-in picture on Capitol Hill in
Washington, U.S., January 3, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts - RC1717918ED0
The next day, Tlaib stood by her comments but repeatedly attempted to avoid reporters asking her to clarify her remarks.
Speaking
at the White House, Trump called Tlaib's comments "disgraceful" and
said she had "dishonored herself and dishonored her family." But
Democrats offered a muted reaction, with some offering support for
Tlaib.
House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, speaking on CNN,
remarked on Friday: “I don't like really like that kind of language. But
more to the point, I disagree with what she said. It is too early to
talk about that intelligently. We have to follow the facts." The
Judiciary committee would oversee any impeachment proceedings against
Trump.
But New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
tweeted that criticism of Tlaib' remarks was "Republican hypocrisy at
its finest" given Trump's rhetoric, adding that "GOP lost entitlement to
policing women’s behavior a long time ago."
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, sitting on an MSNBC panel, largely agreed.
"I
probably have a generational reaction to it," Pelosi said. "But in any
event, I'm not in the censorship business. I don't like that language, I
wouldn't use that language. I don’t … establish any language standards
for my colleagues, but I don’t think it’s anything worse than what the
president has said."
She added, "Generationally, that would not be
language I would use, but nonetheless, I don’t think we should make a
big deal of it."
Tlaib's office did not return Fox News' request for comment.
No comments:
Post a Comment