The House of Representatives of States United approved one motion of censorship towards the democratic deputy of Palestinian origin Rashida Tlaib in response to some of his statements on the war between Hamas e Israel. Con 234 votes in favor and 188 against, the resolution proposed on the evening of Tuesday 7 November by the Republican representative of Georgia, Rich McCormicksaw 22 Democrats join most Republicans in accusing Tlaib of “promoting false narratives” about the Hamas attack and of “wanting the destruction of the State of Israel“.
The reference is to a statement released by the Dem deputy after the Hamas attack which called for “the end of the system of apartheid which creates suffocating and dehumanizing conditions which can lead to resistance“. A specification that was interpreted by supporters of the motion as an apology for the terrorist actions of the Islamic group against Israeli soldiers and civilians on 7 October. Not only. The slogan “From the Jordan River to the sea“, a pro-Palestine protest cry defended several times by Tlaib and which appeared in recent weeks in a video she published in which she accused the US president Joe Biden to support “the genocide in Gaza“. The resolution called the phrase “a genocidal call for violence to destroy the State of Israel and its people and replace it with a Palestinian state stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.” The American NGO for the protection of Jewish rights, the Anti Defamation Leaguehad previously described the slogan as “anti-Semitic.”
During the debate that preceded the vote, Tlaib defended her statements by reiterating her call for a ceasefire and underlining that her criticisms have always been aimed at the Israeli government and not civilians. He also underlined that the slogan under discussion is “an inspiring call for freedom, to human rights and peaceful coexistence, not to death, destruction or hatred”. Choking back tears, he then reiterated that “the Palestinian people are not disposable” and concluded: “You can censor me, but you will not be able to silence their voices.”
Censorship is the second measure disciplinary more serious after that of expulsion from the Chamber. The only American of Palestinian origin in her US federal Congress, she is in her third term as a representative of the Michigan, Tlaib had already been at the center of controversy in the past for her opinions on the Israeli-Palestinian issue but has always received the support of her party. This is the second time in the space of a few weeks that the Republicans have filed a motion of censure against him, but the statements of the last few days, including those on a possible lack of support for Biden in the next elections, have also led several members of the party Democrat to support the resolution.