U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the Democrat representing Michigan’s 12th Congressional District, fired back Wednesday at critics who have accused her of supporting the Hamas terrorists of Palestine for their murderous pogrom last weekend against Jews in Israel.
Michigan Advance quoted Tlaib, who did not return a request for comment from Metro Times.
“I do not support targeting and killing of civilians, whether in Israel or Palestine,” Tlaib said. “The fact that some have suggested otherwise is offensive and rooted in bigoted assumptions about my faith and ethnicity.”
Tlaib is Muslim and the only Palestinian-American in Congress. She is also the first Palestinian-American woman to serve in the House. This is her third term. When first sworn in, Tlaib took her oath on a Koran. Since then, she has expressed support for Palestinians who feel oppressed by their Israeli neighbors.
The Gaza Strip, one of two Palestinian territories, is about the size of Detroit with more than two million people. It has been described as an “open-air prison” where an overwhelming majority of the population is young. For years, it has faced heavy restrictions imposed by Israel, including surveillance, strict security checkpoints, and a complete blockade. Tlaib’s grandmother still lives in the West Bank, the other Palestinian territory.
In a meeting with President Joe Biden more than two years ago, Tlaib told the President that Palestinians must be protected from Israel, and she shared her harsh assessment of Israel’s role in escalating violence against Palestinians, according to a statement issued from her office then and reported by NPR.
But there is little time or space for context or nuance in the aftermath of a planned massacre that has taken at least 1,200 lives in Israel and led to 1,000 deaths in Gaza. Condemnation for Tlaib is coming from many Republicans, a few Democrats, and — of course — the right-wing media both locally and nationally.
In Detroit, on WJR (760-AM) radio, right-wing propagandist Tom Jordan of the morning “All Talk” show demonstrated the way professionals put together two half-truths and turn them into one whole lie.
Here’s how. It is true that Tlaib for many months has displayed a Palestinian flag at her office in the Capitol. It is also true that Palestinian Hamas terrorists — with this vicious attack — might ignite a larger war in the Middle East.
Therefore, according to Jordan logic, Tlaib is complicit in mass murder.
“She supports, it seems, Hamas, a terrorist regime,” Jordan declared this week. “ . . . She’s denouncing Israel. That is absolutely un-American.”
The theme poured forth from what was once known as the Golden Tower of the Fisher Building, now a 24-hour shower of insinuation and exaggeration.
On WJR Wednesday, Jordan said without proof of Tlaib:
“She is a terrorist sympathizer at this point. She sympathizes with Hamas. She probably sympathizes with Hezbollah. She probably sympathizes with the Houthis in Yemen. She is a staunch opponent of Israel . . . They [the “Squad”] hate Israel . . . She should be gone.”
Jordan gloated about video in heavy rotation on Fox television channels showing a reporter named Hillary Vaughn chasing Tlaib down a corridor to an elevator at the Capitol, chanting her harangue of repeated questions about unconfirmed reports of terrorists beheading children. This from a 69-second sound bite.
“Congresswoman, Hamas terrorists have cut off babies’ heads and burned children alive,” the Fox reporter said. “Do you support Israel’s right to defend themselves against this brutality?
“You can’t comment about Hamas terrorists chopping off babies’ heads?
“You have nothing to say about Hamas terrorists chopping off babies’ heads?
“Do you condone what Hamas has done, chopping off babies’ heads, burning children alive, raping women in the streets?
“You have no comment about children’s heads being chopped off?
“Congresswoman, why do you have the Palestinian flag outside your office if you do not condone what Hamas terrorists have done to Israel?
“Do Israeli lives matter to you?”
Note how both sources of journalism frame the issue. They assume Tlaib supports terrorism, so they debate within their own frame whether she will continue to support the terrorists or not. It is another form of the loaded rhetorical question of “Have you stopped beating your wife?”
Tlaib’s 12th District includes parts of the West Side along with Dearborn, Southfield, and Livonia. There are many Jewish synagogues and Muslim mosques there, and many more houses of worship for many more religions.
The savagery of the attacks in Israel prompted visceral reactions. That’s why Tlaib’s first reaction on Sunday — moderate and boilerplate — struck many as insufficiently emotional and horrified.
“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,” she said Sunday. “The failure to recognize the violent reality of living under siege, occupation and apartheid makes no one safer. No person, no child anywhere should have to suffer or live in fear of violence.”
In the past, those of us who have dealt with her in the media have found Tlaib to be far more interested in local issues — fair wages, pollution — than she is in the politics of the Middle East. But events and her identity have forced her to take a stand.
Whether or not she likes it, she will be front and center on this issue. In a state where right-wing terrorists recently plotted to kidnap and kill the governor, it is reckless and irresponsible for news media to promote religious and ethnic antagonism toward another elected official.
From now on, no matter what she says, Tlaib will draw criticism. Making it hysterical only ramps up the danger.
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