A congressman out of Western Pennsylvania is calling for Congress to remove Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) from her committee assignments after two new incidents involving anti-Semitism, saying that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was “emboldening” Tlaib’s “dangerous, hateful bigotry” by remaining silent on the issue.
Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) is calling for the removal of Tlaib from her congressional committees after Tlaib reportedly attended a conference last week that was described as “anti-Israel.” The call also comes after Tlaib recently promoted a highly inflammatory tweet on her Twitter account that used a phrase that has long been associated with extremist calls to eliminate the state of Israel.
“This week, Democrat Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib participated in a forum led by one of the nation’s most anti-Israel advocacy groups that featured other participants with reported connections to Hamas, terrorism financiers, and the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement,” Reschenthaler said in a statement. “Rep. Tlaib’s participation in this conference, coupled with her recently deleted retweet of a slogan calling for the elimination of Israel, are just the latest examples of a deeply disturbing pattern of anti-Semitism that has been on display since she was elected. Yet Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats refuse to condemn her heinous behavior.”
“As a Member of Congress representing southwestern Pennsylvania, I have seen firsthand what happens when we stand by and allow anti-Semitism and intolerance to pervade our communities,” the statement continued. “In 2018, eleven Jewish worshippers were killed and six others were wounded at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. The day after this cowardly act of violence, I stood in solidarity with Americans of all religions, races, and ethnicities at a vigil honoring the victims of this heinous crime, and the first time I ever spoke on the House floor was to denounce hatred and bigotry in all forms.”
“House Republicans demonstrated we have zero tolerance for hateful speech in our ranks. When outgoing Republican Congressman Steve King made inexcusable racist remarks, not only did he receive widespread condemnation from both sides of the aisle, but Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy rightfully stripped him of his committee assignments,” the statement continued. “Speaker Pelosi, on the other hand, is deafeningly silent. By failing to act and hold Rep. Tlaib accountable, Pelosi is emboldening her and others to continue spreading and escalating this dangerous, hateful bigotry.”
The statement concluded by Reschenthaler calling on his “colleagues across the aisle” to join him in calling for Tlaib to “immediately lose her committee assignments.”
Dr. Mark Goldfeder, director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, called for the House to censure Tlaib last week in an op-ed at Fox News.
“In her latest expression of anti-Semitism, Tlaib retweeted a message Sunday that read: ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,'” Goldfeder wrote. “That phrase is a well-known Hamas jihadist call to annihilate the state of Israel and murder its Jewish inhabitants. It is an open request by Hamas and other terrorist groups for violence against innocent people and against one of America’s closest allies, Israel.”
“Tlaib’s toxic anti-Semitism is dangerous,” Goldfeder asserted. “According to the FBI, the majority of religiously motivated hate crimes in the United States are committed against Jews. That number is on the rise, despite the fact that Jews make up less than 2% of America’s population.”