Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives, including nearly two dozen from her own party, have voted to censure Democratic representative Rashida Tlaib following anti-Israel comments.
The censure motion came about in reaction to comments made by Tlaib, a Palestinian-American, in which she used the phrase “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” a common slogan among pro-Palestine supporters. The resolution formally condemned her for the phrase, calling it “a genocidal call to violence to destroy the state of Israel and its people.”
Tlaib posted a video on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Friday, November 3rd, condemning U.S. President Joe Biden’s support of Israel, going as far as accusing President Biden of supporting the ”genocide” of the Palestinian people.
“From the river to the sea is an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate. My work and advocacy is [sic] always centred in justice and dignity for all people, no matter [their] faith or ethnicity,” Tlaib said, defending the use of the slogan used by protestors.
The vote saw 234 lawmakers agree to censure Tlaib for her comments, with 188 opposed after the resolution was introduced by Republican representative Rich McCormick of Georgia on Monday, November 6th.
A motion to censure is regarded as an official announcement from Congress but does not carry any legal punishment, nor does it exclude Talib from the House of Representatives, being more symbolic in nature.
A prior attempt to censure Tlaib had been brought to the house by Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene last week, which labelled the actions of a pro-Palestine protest in Washington, D.C., as an “insurrection.”
Protestors took to the streets of the American capital on Saturday, calling for an “intifada,” or violent uprising. It is believed to have been the largest pro-Palestine rally in the city in several years.
The demonstrators later approached the White House and scaled the fence, throwing objects at Secret Service members and shouting various slogans, including “Allahu Akbar” and labelling President Biden “genocide Joe.” Several statues, including war memorials, near the White House were also vandalised by the pro-Palestine protestors.
The censure of Tlaib comes after her ally in the House, Democratic representative Ilhan Omar, was also admonished earlier this year for anti-Israel comments and removed from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Since the massacre of over a thousand Israeli civilians on October 7th by Hamas, most politicians across the Western world have expressed sympathy with Israel and the victims of the brutal massacre.
However, others have been more hesitant to lend their sympathies to Israel, instead focusing on Israeli retaliation against Hamas, while some have even gone as far as refusing to condemn the terrorist group, including French far-left politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon and former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis.
In Canada, the left-wing New Democrats (NDP) in the province of Ontario kicked MPP Sarah Jama out of the party after she made statements calling for an end to “all occupation of Palestinian land” while failing to mention the Hamas massacres.
The Ontario legislature also censured Jama, with the speaker of the legislature not recognizing Jama until she apologises for her statements.
Last weekend, Jama, who now sits in the Ontario legislature as an independent, addressed a pro-Palestine rally in Hamilton, Ontario, telling the crowd, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”
