We wonder when the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives will hold Democrat Rep. Rashida Tlaib to account for her continuing anti-Semitic comments.
While the voters in her Michigan congressional district have sent her to Congress, it is the party leadership, like Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who determine what committee assignments she is given – and in general oversee whether the conduct of members of Congress reflect negatively on the House and warrant formal sanction.
Just the other day, Tlaib retweeted a message that read, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Given the bloody history of Arab efforts to drive the Jews out of the Middle East, that phrase is rightly recognized as a jihadist call for the annihilation of the state of Israel and the murder of its Jewish inhabitants.
Does anyone believe that she and the original tweeter had a peaceful transition in mind? Tlaib quickly deleted her retweet, but nothing was heard from Pelosi, et al., and it is unlikely that they will go on the record chastising her.
But it’s not as if this is the first time Tlaib has engaged in this sort of thing – and gotten away with it. Here’s how the Times of Israel reported on one of those instances – a particularly gross one considering the anti-Semitic blood libels of the past:
Rep. Rashid Tlaib retweeted then removed a tweet falsely blaming Israelis for the death of a Palestinian child.
Tlaib, a Palestinian American who is a Michigan Democrat and one of only two lawmakers to back the boycott Israel movement, retweeted a tweet by Hanan Ashrawi, a top Palestinian official, who was quote-tweeting an account…that accused Israeli settler of kidnapping, assaulting and throwing into a well an eight-year-old child. ‘The heart just shatters,’ Ashwari said.
In fact the boy, Quais Abu Ramila, appear to have drowned accidentally in a reservoir of rainwater in Eastern Jerusalem. Israeli first responders found him and tried to revive him.
Tlaib removed her retweet, and Ashwari eventually apologized for ‘retweeting something that’s not fully verified.’ Tlaib did not retweet the retraction.
Tlaib also agreed to travel to Israel on trip organized by MIFTAH, a rabidly anti-Semitic group that has accused Jews of using “the blood of Christians in Passover matzah,” published neo-Nazi propaganda questioning “the Jewish ‘Holocaust’ tale,” and celebrated terrorists who murdered Israeli children. Tlaib has also contributed to the Farrakhan publication, “Final Call.”
Yet, the closest she ever come to censure was when, in response to one of her outrages, the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives failed to pass a resolution condemning her by name, or even anti-Semitism, and instead passed an extremely watered-down version decrying “all hate.”
It’s time our political leaders recognize that leaving these kinds of excesses unaddressed only encourages more of them. And the cumulative effect over time is ineluctably the notion that targeting Jews is not such a big deal.