Democrats are criticizing Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) & Cori Bush (D-Mo.) over statements they made over the weekend calling Israel an apartheid state and urging the United States to stop funding it in the wake of a surprise Hamas attack that left hundreds dead.
Tlaib stated that she “continues to grieve the lives of the Palestinian and Israeli citizens lost yesterday, today, and every day” before urging the “dismantlement of the apartheid system that produces the oppressive, dehumanizing conditions that can inspire resistance.” In a floor speech in July, she rejected a House resolution in favor of Israel and has previously lambasted the Israeli government.
In her lengthy statement, Tlaib—who is of Palestinian descent—also demanded that the siege on the Gaza Strip be lifted and that “the occupation” be put an end to.
“No one is made safer by the refusal to acknowledge the horrific reality of life under siege, occupation, and apartheid. No individual or kid should ever have to endure suffering or live in constant fear of violence. We cannot overlook one other’s humanity, she remarked.
This terrible cycle of violence will continue as long as our nation continues to unconditionally provide billions of dollars to sustain the apartheid administration, she added.
Bush made similar remarks in a statement she sent on Saturday, in which she decried the violence against people and expressed her “heartbreak” over it. She also demanded an end to American backing for Israel.
“As part of securing a just and lasting peace, we have to do our part to put an end to this violence and trauma by ending U.S. government assistance for Israeli military occupation and apartheid,” she declared.
Tlaib and Bush’s comments drew immediate criticism from the left and right, including two Democratic lawmakers. Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) denounced the politicians’ remarks in comments to Jewish Insider.
In a statement to Jewish Insider, Torres stated, “U.S. aid to Israel is and ought to be unconditional, and at no time more so than in this moment of critical need.” “Shame on anyone who calls the largest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust’resistance’. It is abhorrent and terrible.
Gottheimer claimed in a statement obtained by The Hill that “two of my colleagues called for America to halt assistance to Israel, regardless of the countless images of Israeli children, men, women, and elderly, which includes Americans, murdered by radical Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists.” It disgusts me that Israelis believe Congress should cut off funds to our democratic ally and let innocent civilians suffer while they mop up the blood of family members who were shot in their homes.
Tlaib’s statement was also attacked by the Israeli ambassador to the United States.
How much more blood must be shed before you put aside your bias and categorically denounce Hamas, a group that the US has recognized as a terrorist organization? Tlaib’s comments was addressed by Michael Herzog on X, the website that replaced Twitter.
“Hundreds of defenseless Israeli citizens were brutally murdered on a holy day. Infants were seized from their mothers’ arms and transported to Gaza. a hostage situation involving an 85-year-old woman in a wheelchair & a Holocaust survivor. Are you serious, @RashidaTlaib? He went on.