Opinion: Censuring the Home’s solely Palestinian American is a cynical ploy to silence opposition to Israel

Of all of the wrong-headed responses to the present disaster within the Center East, demanding that the one Palestinian American in Congress be censured for criticizing Israel is among the many most cynical.

Inevitably, the conflict between Israel and Hamas has unmasked deep rifts among Democrats — between outspoken supporters of Israel and its steps to crush Hamas, and people who name for a cease-fire in Gaza and an finish to Israel’s trampling of Palestinian rights.

Opinion Columnist

Robin Abcarian

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However Republican efforts to expel or censure Democratic Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib for her outspoken pro-Palestinian views is nothing greater than a cynical try and seize the highlight and exploit Democratic divisions for political functions.

Sure, it’s true that Tlaib has used the phrase “genocide” to explain what is occurring in Gaza. She was among the many 9 Democrats who voted in opposition to a Home decision expressing assist for Israel and condemning the Hamas assault on Oct. 7. She additionally, like many others, believed in the narrative that Israel had bombed a hospital in Gaza, which is now extensively questioned. However so did many mainstream media retailers. Ought to she have apologized? Perhaps, however her protection made sense.

“Each the Israeli and United States governments have lengthy, documented histories of deceptive the general public about wars and conflict crimes — like final yr’s Israeli army assassination of [journalist] Shireen Abu Akleh and the false claims of weapons of mass destruction that led our nation into the Iraq Battle,” she stated, including: “This debate mustn’t distract us from the pressing want for a cease-fire to avoid wasting harmless civilian lives.”

On Oct. 18, Tlaib spoke at an antiwar protest organized by two left-wing Jewish teams, Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow. Standing in entrance of an enormous banner painted with the phrase “Ceasefire,” an emotional Tlaib pleaded for peace, and condemned the conflict. She spoke of two victims, Maya Regev, a 21-year-old Israeli who’s believed to have been taken hostage by Hamas on the music pageant, and Shaima Akram Saidam, the highest scorer in Palestine’s 2023 highschool exams, who was killed by an Israeli airstrike at a refugee camp within the Gaza Strip.

“Each of them — each of them — are victims,” Tlaib stated, her voice breaking. “They’re victims of the oppression of the violence. They each need to stay. I don’t care what their religion is or their ethnicity.”

Later that day, a little more than 300 of the protesters were arrested after they entered a congressional workplace constructing on Capitol Hill to proceed their demonstration in opposition to the conflict. Three have been charged with assaulting police, although this was on no account a violent occasion. Video reveals a lot of the protesters, clad in black T-shirts with the slogan “Not in our identify,” sitting in concentric circles or standing with arms linked, chanting, “Ceasefire now!”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who supported overturning the outcomes of a free and honest American presidential election, accused Tlaib of partaking in “anti-American actions.” In an Oct. 30 letter to her Republican colleagues urging them to censure Tlaib, Greene wrote, “She has advocated for pro-Hamas riots throughout the nation, making American Jews worry for his or her lives, and signaling to Israel that America doesn’t assist them of their battle in opposition to evil.”

Tlaib, so far as I can inform, has sadly not singled out Hamas for criticism. As a substitute she has condemned violence and referred to as for a cease-fire. However nobody, least of all a Palestinian American elected consultant with deeply felt views about Israel’s remedy of Palestinians, needs to be punished for not marching in lockstep with the institution view.

One among Greene’s colleagues, the ethics-challenged Montana Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke, was snarky in regards to the pro-Palestinian Capitol demonstration, however give him credit score not less than for grokking the first Modification: “The irony is the U.S. Structure protects these protesters freedom to be absolute idiots,” he posted on X.

Greene, then again, appears to have misplaced contact with actuality, not for the primary time. In her letter to colleagues, she claimed that Tlaib had “incited a pro-Hamas rebellion on the Capitol complicated” and had referred to as for “violent terrorist revolt contained in the Capitol complicated.”

“We anticipate our elected officers to conduct themselves in a way that displays the dignity of their workplace and upholds the belief of the American individuals,” wrote Greene, who as soon as referred to as her colleague Lauren Boebert a “little bitch” on the Home ground, verbally harassed Parkland capturing survivor David Hogg, posted an anti-transgender sign exterior her workplace throughout the corridor from a lawmaker with a transgender baby, and screamed “Liar!” at President Biden throughout his State of the Union speech this yr.

Let’s not overlook, both, her embrace of the antisemitic “great replacement theory” or her loopy claim that rich Jews use area lasers to begin forest fires within the U.S. and Israel.

“The diploma to which some people solely faux to care about antisemitism once they can weaponize it by no means ceases to amaze,” CNN’s Jake Tapper stated Sunday, throughout a scorching commentary about Greene’s censure decision.

For her half, Tlaib called Greene’s resolution “unhinged” and “deeply Islamophobic.”

“I’m proud to face in solidarity with Jewish peace advocates calling for a ceasefire and an finish to the violence,” Tlaib wrote in a statement launched by her workplace. “I cannot be bullied, I cannot be dehumanized, and I cannot be silenced.”

Our Republican-led Home of Representatives, awash in chaos and dysfunction of its personal making, has much better and extra essential issues to do than to punish Tlaib for talking her thoughts. Particularly when she is motivated by long-held precept, and they’re motivated by political theater.

@robinkabcarian