Michigan Rep. Tlaib accuses Biden of backing Palestinian ‘genocide’
Palestinian-American Democrat urges president to call for ceasefire; claims chants of ‘from the river to the sea’ are ‘aspirational call for freedom and peaceful coexistence’
US Representative Rashida Tlaib on Friday accused President Joe Biden of supporting what she alleged was a “genocide” of Palestinians by backing Israel’s offensive against the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian-American Michigan Democrat posted a video containing clips of Gaza during the war, comments from Biden and officials supporting Israel, and large pro-Palestinian rallies in American cities, to demonstrate domestic opposition to the current policies.
“Mr. President, the American people are not with you on this one,” Tlaib said in the video, posted on X.
“Joe Biden supported the genocide of the Palestinian people. The American people won’t forget. Biden, support a ceasefire now. Or don’t count on us in 2024,” a message at the end of the video read, without offering evidence for the grave accusation.
In a following post, Tlaib claimed that the chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which is common at pro-Palestinian rallies and is broadly understood as a call to eliminate the State of Israel, is “an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate.”
“My work and advocacy is always centered in justice and dignity for all people no matter faith or ethnicity,” she added.
From the river to the sea is an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate. My work and advocacy is always centered in justice and dignity for all people no matter faith or ethnicity.
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) November 3, 2023
While most Democrats have stood firmly behind Biden’s steadfast support of Israel during the war, those in the more progressive wing of the party, like Tlaib, have called for a ceasefire and denounced Israel’s actions.
Nine Democrats voted against a House measure condemning the Hamas atrocities last week, including Tlaib, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Jamaal Bowman of New York, Cori Bush of Missouri, Al Green of Texas, Summer Lee of Pennsylvania, Andre Carson of Indiana and Delia Ramirez of Illinois.
Most of the Democratic “no” votes were from the Squad, a group of progressive lawmakers, who have been highly critical of Israel since before the war.
Bowman, Lee, Omar, and Tlaib also were among the 17 sponsors of Bush’s resolution last week asking the Biden administration to call for a ceasefire. Critics of that resolution said it failed to mention Hamas’s massacre of Israelis on October 7, hostages held by Hamas, or that the US considers Hamas a terrorist organization.
Biden’s tone has also gradually changed as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza unfolds, urging humanitarian pauses in the fighting while remaining supportive of Israel’s right to defend itself.
His pro-Israel stance has also raised worries in the party over his prospects for carrying Michigan in the 2024 election, home to a large Arab-American community and expected to be a key battleground state.
“We will remember in 2024,” Tlain said in one of the X videos.
During his visit to Israel Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressed Washington’s desire to see humanitarian pauses, an idea rejected by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said that any temporary halt to the offensive must include a release of hostages held inside Gaza.
War erupted after Hamas’s October 7 massacre, which saw some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel from the Gaza Strip by land, air and sea, killing some 1,400 people and seizing some 240 hostages of all ages under the cover of a deluge of thousands of rockets fired at Israeli towns and cities. The vast majority of those killed as gunmen seized border communities were civilians — including babies, children and the elderly. Entire families were executed in their homes, and over 260 were slaughtered at an outdoor festival, many amid horrific acts of brutality by the terrorists.
Israel says its offensive is aimed at destroying Hamas’s military and governance capabilities, and has vowed to eliminate the entire terror group, which rules the Strip. It says it is targeting all areas where Hamas operates, while seeking to minimize civilian casualties. Hamas claims over 9,400 people have been killed in Gaza. Its figures cannot be independently verified, and are believed to include its own operatives and Gazans killed by terror groups’ misfired missiles.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
