The House of Representatives voted to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., for “promoting false narratives regarding the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and for calling for the destruction of the state of Israel,” the resolution said. The vote in favor of censure was 234-188, with 212 Republicans and 22 Democrats voting yea.
All three Utah Republican congressmen voted in favor of censure.
Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga, introduced the resolution Monday, saying Tlaib “repeatedly made atrocious statements” in support of Hamas and against Israel.
He said Tlaib “has levied unbelievable falsehoods” about the Oct. 7 attack on Israel and “falsely blamed (Israel) for bombing the Al-Ahli Arab hospital,” though “all intelligence has showed Israel was not responsible.”
The focus of McCormick’s attention, however, was on Tlaib’s recent use of the phrase “from the river to the sea,” that appeared twice in her recent controversial video posted to X on Nov. 3.
The video begins with a clip of President Joe Biden saying, “We stand with Israel” and shifts to footage of bombs going off in Gaza. She also includes footage from protests across the country, including in Michigan, California, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois and New York.
Audio of crowds chanting, “from the river to the sea” transition to Tlaib addressing Biden. She says, “Mr. President, the American people are not with you on this one. We will remember in 2024.” Then the video switches to a black screen with text that reads, “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.”
McCormick explained the saying Tlaib used in the video to House members on Tuesday. “The river is the Jordan River, and the sea is the Mediterranean Sea,” he said. “This is a call for the complete destruction of Israel. It is disgusting if it was used in the context it was meant.”
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and dozens of other Democratic representatives signed a statement on Tuesday condemning the use of the phrase, “from the river to the sea,” that appeared in Tlaib’s video twice.
“We reject the use of the phrase “from the river to the sea” — a phrase used by many, including Hamas, as a rallying cry for the destruction of the State of Israel and genocide of the Jewish people. We all feel deep anguish for the human suffering caused by the war in Gaza. Hamas started this war with a barbaric terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023, and neither the Palestinian nor Israeli people can have peace as long as Hamas still rules over Gaza and threatens Israel,” they wrote.
The Times of Israel explained, “Since the 1960s, ‘From the river to the sea’ has been used by Palestinian nationalist movements such as the Palestine Liberation Organization and, later, Hamas.”
.@POTUS, the majority of the American people are not with you on this one. #CeasefireNow pic.twitter.com/rV97zrMkad
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) November 3, 2023
What is a censure?
The House explains, “Censure registers the House’s deep disapproval of Member misconduct that, nevertheless, does not meet the threshold for expulsion. Once the House approves the sanction by majority vote, the censured Member must stand in the well of the House (“the bar of the House” was the 19th-century term) while the Speaker or presiding officer reads aloud the censure resolution and its preamble as a form of public rebuke.”
Tlaib now finds herself listed beneath 26 U.S. representatives since 1832 who have been censured by the House. Her cause of censure is listed as, “promoting false narratives regarding the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and for calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.”