Rep. Rashida Tlaib censured by House over remarks on Israel

Washington — The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives voted late Tuesday night to rebuke Democratic U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress, for her recent remarks on the Israel-Hamas war.

The vote was 234-188, with 22 of Tlaib's Democratic colleagues voting in favor of censure — the body's most severe form of punishment for members short of expulsion. Four Republicans voted no, and four lawmakers voted present.

Tuesday's vote made Tlaib the 26th member of the House to be censured and the second this year after California Rep. Adam Schiff, a Democrat, in June.

During a heated floor debate, House Republicans zeroed in on Tlaib's defense of a Palestinian Liberation Organization chant, "From the river to the sea," that Israelis consider a call-to-arms to end the Jewish state.

"Rep. Tlaib has stoked antisemitism in this nation and undermined our national security," Georgia Rep. Rich McCormick, the measure's author, said on the House floor.

"I ask my colleagues to support this resolution to show the world, especially our adversaries, that the United States stands behind our allies and won’t back down to terrorists."

Tlaib stood and accused her colleagues of twisting her words and ignoring the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, where over 10,000 have died. She wore the black-and-white checkered Palestinian keffiyeh and held up a framed photo of her grandmother, or "sity," who lives in the West Bank.

"My perspective is needed here now more than ever. I will not be silenced, and I will not let you distort my words. Folks forget I’m from the city of Detroit, the most beautiful, Blackest city in the country, where I learned to speak truth to power, even if my voice shakes," Tlaib said on the House floor.

"Trying to bully or censor me won't work because this movement for a cease-fire is much bigger than one person. It's growing every single day."

Tlaib emphasized that her criticism has always been of the Israeli government, not its people, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's actions.

"The idea that criticizing the government of Israel is antisemitic sets a very dangerous precedent, and it's being used to silence diverse voices speaking up for human rights across our nation."

Tuesday's proceedings followed a failed effort last week by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, to censure Tlaib. McCormick's measure was narrower than the censure proposed by Greene, dealing only with Tlaib's remarks over the last month since Hamas' surprise Oct. 7 assault on Israeli citizens.

More:GOP lawmakers help kill measure to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib

Several GOP lawmakers who voted with Democrats to table Greene's measure last week signaled earlier Tuesday they would support McCormick's measure. That included U.S. Reps. John Moolenaar, R-Caledonia; Bill Huizenga, R-Holland; and Tim Walberg, R-Tipton, who told The Detroit News that they backed McCormick's resolution.

"This is not to raise money. This is not to message. This is to do the right thing," McCormick said Monday.

McCormick's resolution accuses Tlaib of "promoting false narratives regarding the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and for calling for the destruction of the state of Israel."

It claims that Tlaib defended the Oct. 7 assault by Hamas as "justified 'resistance' to the 'apartheid state'" and claims she "knowingly" spread a false narrative that Israel intentionally bombed a Gaza hospital despite conflicting U.S. intelligence assessments.

McCormick's measure also points to the video that Tlaib posted to social media Friday that showed protesters chanting the phrase, "from the river to the sea." Tlaib has defended the phrase as "an aspirational call for freedom, human rights and peaceful coexistence" and not for the destruction of Israel or expulsion of Jews from Israel.

But New York Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican, accused Tlaib of "parroting" Hamas messaging.

"Chanting 'from the river to the sea' is calling for the eradication of Israel. I would hardly define that as aspirational," Lawler said. "Calling for a cease-fire that they won't abide to is outrageous."

Lawler also accused Tlaib of lying about Israel bombing the Gaza hospital in an effort to undermine and "turn the world against Israel."

"Why? Because when she chants 'from the river to the sea,' she believes it!" Lawler said, slamming his fist on the lectern.

"That's a lie!" shouted Missouri Rep. Cori Bush, a Democrat and friend of Tlaib's.

Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, also defended Tlaib on the floor, saying her voice matters as the only Palestinian American in Congress. She said she chooses not to use a phrase that is "offensive to some and that many perceive as a threat.""But I also take very seriously living in a country that does not restrict, forbid or censure free speech," Dingell said.

"Can we stop misrepresenting Rep. Tlaib’s words? She does not want to kill Jews. She is not in support of Hamas," said Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-New York.

"This body needs empathy and compassion for all people, not just people who look like the majority of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle."

Colorado Rep. Ken Buck was the only Republican to defend Tlaib on the floor. He said comparing a modern democracy to a "repressive terror state" is wrong, but so is the action to censure Tlaib.

“We lower ourselves when we try to take action against someone else for their words,” Buck said. “Let’s pass a resolution condemning this kind of language, condemning antisemitism on college campuses and elsewhere. But is absolutely wrong to vote for this motion.”

Tlaib said she has "repeatedly" denounced the targeting and killing of civilians by Hamas and the Israeli government and has mourned the Israeli and Palestinian lives lost.

“I can’t believe I have to say this, but Palestinian people are not disposable,” Tlaib said tearfully on the floor, drawing support from colleagues who stepped over to comfort her.

“We are human beings, just like anyone else. My Sity, my grandmother, like all Palestinians, just wants to live her life with freedom and human dignity we all deserve. … The cries of the Palestinian and Israeli children sound no different to me. What I don’t understand is why the cries of Palestinians sound different to you all.”

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that the Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war has surpassed 10,300, including more than 4,200 children, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. In Israel, more than 1,400 people have been killed, most of them in the Oct. 7 Hamas assault that targeted mostly civilians and sparked the war.

Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Jewish Democrat who led the defense of Tlaib on the floor Tuesday, said the House shouldn't be punishing lawmakers for their political speech, "no matter how abhorrent or offensive it is to us," or they'd never get any work done.

"I told her that I rejected the phrase ― from the river to the sea ― and nothing can rehabilitate that in my mind or the minds of lots of people, but that's not a cause for bringing the disciplinary process of the House of Representatives against her," Raskin said outside the House chamber.

"I mean, there are things that (Reps.) Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Jim Jordan say on a daily basis that I would vote to censure. Are we just saying that whoever has the gavel has the power to go around and punish other people's expression?"

Walberg, the most senior member of Michigan's delegation, opposed Greene's resolution last week on free speech grounds, saying it contained inaccurate statements and "guilt by association." But on Tuesday, he supported McCormick's tighter language.

Walberg said he worries that the video that Tlaib published promoting "boisterous" pro-Palestinian rallies and accusing the Biden administration of supporting "genocide" could potentially lead to violence and might have contributed to what happened at the White House over the weekend, with protesters climbing the gates and smearing red hand prints on the pillars.

He also pointed to Tlaib's defense of the phrase "from the river to the sea," saying he previously had spoken with her privately about not using it because it's "negative and hateful." But she didn't stop, he said.

"I would contend that her statements and her use of that slogan, however she wants to define it, continues to hype up all of the emotion out there," Walberg said.

Huizenga also voted for McCormick's censure resolution, even though he'd still defend Tlaib's legal right to say "stupid, wrong and vile things." She's a member of Congress and not just a private citizen, he noted.

"It's really a disapproval of someone using an official position in an egregious manner," he said. "This is a rebuke of that."

Rep. Haley Stevens, a Birmingham Democrat, said she wouldn't vote to censure her colleague, arguing it only brings more attention to what was said.

"I certainly don't think to use language that's hurting people," she said. "I recognize that a lot of people are hurting right now."

Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a Holly Democrat and the delegation's only Jewish member, also opposed the censure, though she has urged Tlaib to recant her statements.

"But at the end of the day, we all have the right to freedom of speech," Slotkin said in a statement. "That said, these tit-for-tat attempts to censure members need to stop. If we censured every member of Congress who said something offensive in this body, we’d never get another quorum."

Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint Township, also said he disagrees with Tlaib's remarks but that it's inappropriate to censure a member of Congress every time he or she makes an "outrageous" statement.

"Divisive rhetoric hurts our ability to bring urgently needed humanitarian relief to the Palestinian people and peace to the Middle East," Kildee said.

The censure resolution by McCormick was on a fast-track process that skipped the committee process and had to be considered on the House floor within two legislative days. 

Greene also introduced a revised version of her censure resolution that was set aside last week.

It was expected to be taken up separately Tuesday night but was pulled from the House agenda late Tuesday. It accused Tlaib of "antisemitic" activity but removed the allegation that she had led an "insurrection" at the U.S. Capitol complex on Oct. 18. Instead, Greene now calls it an "illegal occupation."

The reference is to a protest inside and outside the Cannon House Office Building by members of the advocacy group Jewish Voices for Peace. Tlaib was not present for the demonstration but spoke to a rally nearby calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, according to her office. 

Moolenaar said he objected to Greene's resolution because it stated things that were untrue about Tlaib's involvement in an "insurrection" and that she "hated America."

"This one is based on facts and statements that have been made. It's objectively accurate," Moolenaar said Tuesday of McCormick's measure.

"It does not take away her freedom of speech, but it speaks as a body as to how she is representing this institution, and that it should not continue. It doesn't silence her. It doesn't interrupt her ability to run for office. Iit simply makes a statement as an institution on the conduct of a member."

mburke@detroitnews.com