A senior House Democrat offered a defense of Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) as she faces blowback for flying a Palestinian flag during the Hamas attack on Israel.
Steny Hoyer (D-MD), who served multiple terms as House majority leader, noted that Tlaib is a Palestinian American when a reporter asked if she should still have the flag outside her office.
“I don’t know. She’s Palestinian. You know, that doesn’t mean she’s a terrorist. It doesn’t mean that she condones this,” Hoyer said — before stating that he has a Danish flag at his house.
Steny Hoyer’s reaction to Rashida Tlaib still keeping the Palestinian flag outside her office: “I fly a Danish flag at my house”
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) October 11, 2023
After the weekend rampage in which civilians were slaughtered, including an estimated 260 people at a concert, Israel has gone to war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Officials estimate more than a thousand people have died on each side of the border over the past five days, including 22 Americans, and thousands more have been injured.
Tlaib, a member of the leftist “Squad” in the House, broke her silence with a statement on Sunday that said she grieved for lives lost on both sides, advocated for peace, and called for an end to an “apartheid system” backed by the United States that she faulted for perpetuating the violence.
When asked if he was supportive of Tlaib’s comments, Hoyer said he disagreed with “some” of them. “She lamented the deaths on both sides,” he added, “and I think she condemned — I don’t have her statement right in front of me — she condemned terrorist activity.”
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In fact, Tlaib’s statement over the weekend did not make any explicit mention of terrorism, but it did say the “path to the future must include lifting the blockade, ending the occupation, and dismantling the apartheid system that creates the suffocating, dehumanizing conditions that can lead to resistance.”
In addition to fracas over a Palestinian flag being spotted outside her office on Capitol Hill — which sparked a push to squelch funds for non-U.S. flags being displayed in the halls of the U.S. Congress — Tlaib made headlines on Tuesday for refusing to comment when a reporter asked her about babies being killed by Hamas terrorists.
Tlaib has stirred controversy in the past with her comments about Israel, including in 2019 when she said thinking about the Holocaust gave her a “calming feeling,” after which the congresswoman accused critics of “twisting” her words.