Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) demanded that President Joe Biden reconsider aid to Israel’s “right-wing” government in a brief confrontation on a tarmac in Michigan Tuesday, according to a report from National Public Radio.
As The Daily Wire reported Tuesday, Tlaib made a point of meeting Biden when Air Force One touched down in Detroit on Tuesday. Biden was scheduled to speak on infrastructure and support for a more ecology-minded auto industry, but Tlaib wanted to speak about the ongoing violence in Israel, between the Israeli government and the terror group, Hamas.
“Tlaib confronted Biden ‘over his support for Israel amid its bombing campaign against Hamas in Gaza,'” The Daily Wire noted, citing The New York Times. Tlaib was reported to have “echoed a scathing speech she delivered last week on the House floor, telling the president that he must do more to protect Palestinian lives and human rights.”
An aide later filled in media on Tlaib and Biden’s conversation, including Tlaib’s harsh words for Israel’s government.
“Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib conveyed to President Biden her dissatisfaction with the United States’ response to the bloody conflict between Israel and Hamas that has now entered its second week,” Tlaib’s office told NPR.
Tlaib is, of course, vocal in her support for the Palestinian cause and has routinely been accused of using anti-Semitic language to refer to her Jewish colleagues. At one point Tlaib even deployed an anti-Semitic slur in 2019 when she charged that Jewish members of Congress were torn by their “dual loyalty” to both Israel and the United States. She claimed that the bill’s supporters “forgot what country they represent.”
On Tuesday, Tlaib accused Israel of “escalating” the violence and demanded an end of American aid to the Middle East’s only democracy.
“Palestinian human rights are not a bargaining chip and must be protected, not negotiated,” Tlaib’s aide related. “The U.S. cannot continue to give the right-wing [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu government billions each year to commit crimes against Palestinians. Atrocities like bombing schools cannot be tolerated, much less conducted with U.S.-supplied weapons.”
“Congresswoman Tlaib reiterated that the status quo is enabling more killing, that the current U.S. approach of unconditional support for the Israeli government is not working, and that the White House must do far more to protect Palestinian lives, dignity, and human rights,” the aide continued.
Biden responded, The Daily Wire reported Tuesday, but expressing his admiration for Tlaib.
“I admire your intellect, I admire your passion and I admire your concern for so many other people,” Biden told the Michigan Democrat. “From my heart, I pray that your grandmom and family are well. I promise you, I’ll do everything to see that they are.”
The Biden administration said Wednesday that the president told Israel to “de-escalate” its confrontation with Hamas, even though the terror organization has shown no signs of a willingness to negotiate. Instead, rockets were fired at Israel from a new location — southern Lebanon — Wednesday morning.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday, in a briefing to foreign ambassadors, that Israel is not on a “timeline” and would not set a “time frame” on its current anti-terror operations.