House censures Rashida Tlaib as she defends comments over Israel: 'Palestinian people are not disposable'

WASHINGTON – The House voted Tuesday night to censure the only Palestinian American in Congress, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., over her remarks on the Israel-Hamas war.

The move to censure Tlaib in a resolution introduced by Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., was approved in the House by a vote of 234-188. Most House Republicans voted in favor of the measure along with a handful of House Democrats.

Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., who is Jewish and one of the Democrats who voted to censure Tlaib, said the resolution was not perfect "in its language or form" in a statement but said he thought there was "no other recourse but to vote to censure her."

"It is the only vehicle available to formally rebuke the dangerous disinformation and aspersions that Rep. Tlaib continues to use and defend," he said.

House Republicans successfully defeated a Democratic attempt to set aside the resolution – in a procedural move known as a motion to table – earlier on Tuesday afternoon. Following the motion to table, Tlaib, surrounded by her fellow progressive colleagues, delivered an impassioned speech on the House floor while holding back tears.

“I can't believe I have to say this but Palestinian people are not disposable. We are human beings,” Tlaib said Tuesday afternoon, holding up a framed picture of her grandmother. “Just like my grandmother, like all Palestinians, who just wants to live her life with the freedom and human dignity we all deserve."

The resolution targeted Tlaib’s public statements about the Israel-Hamas war and accused her of “promoting false narratives regarding the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and for calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.”

Among Tlaib’s comments that have caused the most controversy in Congress is her use of the phrase “from the river to the sea,” a pro-Palestinian slogan that Israel’s supporters say is antisemitic and a call to destroy the state of Israel.

Tlaib got more pushback from her colleagues after saying in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that the phrase is “an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate.”

On the House floor, Tlaib emphasized her comments on the war are aimed exclusively at the Israeli government and not Jewish people. She has called for a ceasefire in the conflict as Israel continues its bombing of Gaza which threatens Palestinian civilians.

“My criticism has always been of the Israeli government and (President Benjamin) Netanyahu’s actions,” Tlaib said.

“Speaking up to save lives, Mr. Chair, no matter faith, no matter ethnicity should not be controversial in this chamber. The cries of Palestinian and Israeli children sound no different to me,” she added. “What I don’t understand is why the cries of Palestinians sounds different to you all.”

Tlaib survived a previous attempt last week by conservative firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., to censure her also over her comments on the war. Those efforts were killed in a motion to table mainly due to Greene’s language in her resolution which called a pro-Palestinian protest that occupied a House office building an “illegal insurrection.”

After McCormick introduced his resolution on Monday, Greene also brought forth another push to censure Tlaib, this time modifying the language to call the protest an “illegal occupation” instead.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: House censures Rashida Tlaib over Israel, Palestine comments