A pair of House Republicans announced a resolution to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) this week following her controversial response to the deadly attack on Israel by Hamas.
Rep. Jack Bergman (R-MI), who introduced the measure with another GOP colleague, said Tlaib’s “longstanding history of antisemitic and racist rhetoric toward Israel cannot go unchecked.”
— Rep. Jack Bergman (@RepJackBergman) October 11, 2023
The two-page resolution cites a number of comments and actions by Tlaib over the years, including, most recently, her statement on Sunday calling for an end to an “apartheid system” on Palestinians backed by the United States that she said can lead to “resistance.”
Noting the “series of coordinated attacks on Israel perpetrated by Hamas terrorists” left “more Jews dead than any single day since the Holocaust,” the resolution calls for Tlaib’s censure as well as dictates that the House “stands with the State of Israel and rejects anti-semitism in all its forms” and “renounces fringe beliefs that the State of Israel is an apartheid State.”
A censure against a member of the House is essentially a formal rebuke of that lawmaker. It is a less severe form of punishment than expulsion.
Most recently, the House voted to censure Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) in June for “misleading the American public and for conduct unbecoming of an elected Member of the House of Representatives” over his comments about investigations into former President Donald Trump.
Republicans previously tried to censure Tlaib and other leftist lawmakers over their rhetoric regarding Israel in 2021 when Democrats controlled the House, but the effort did not succeed. How far Bergman’s resolution will get may depend on who wins the race for speaker after the GOP-led House voted to remove Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from the role last week.
Rep. Morgan Luttrell (R-TX), who helped introduce the new resolution to censure Tlaib, said, “There should be zero tolerance for this atrocious antisemitism in America, especially in the halls of Congress.”
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Tlaib, the sole Palestinian American lawmaker in Congress and a member of the leftist “Squad,” has faced bipartisan condemnation for her statement, including by Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI), who told Jewish Insider, “Calling this resistance is dehumanizing.”
Tlaib also made headlines on Tuesday for refusing to comment when a reporter asked her about babies being killed by Hamas terrorists.
On Wednesday, Tlaib said, “I do not support the targeting and killing of civilians, whether in Israel or Palestine,” adding, “The fact that some have suggested otherwise is offensive and rooted in bigoted assumptions about my faith and ethnicity.”
Tlaib drew additional scrutiny after a reporter spotted a Palestinian flag outside her office following the massacre in Israel over the weekend.
Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) proposed a measure to block funds for non-U.S. flags being displayed in the halls of Congress. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), who served multiple terms as House majority leader, defended Tlaib over the flag, saying, “You know, that doesn’t mean she’s a terrorist. It doesn’t mean that she condones this.”