GOP lawmakers renew effort to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib over Israel rhetoric

Washington — A pair of Republican lawmakers are renewing an effort to punish Rep. Rashida Tlaib just days after she was spared a formal reprimand over her controversial comments on Israel.

Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Rich McCormick, who both represent Georgia, introduced separate resolutions on Monday seeking to censure Tlaib for what they called her "antisemitic" remarks. Greene and McCormick introduced the resolutions as "privileged," a procedural maneuver that forces a vote on the matter within two legislative days. 

A similar push led by Greene failed last week when the House voted against moving forward on censuring the Michigan Democrat, with 23 Republicans joining all Democrats in voting the table the measure.

The second attempt to punish Tlaib, the House's only Palestinian American, comes after her defense of a slogan that is seen by Jewish people as arguing for the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state.

Tlaib posted a video on X on Friday that included footage of protesters in Michigan chanting "from the river to the sea." The Anti-Defamation League says the full slogan — "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" — is an "antisemitic slogan commonly featured in anti-Israel campaigns and chanted at demonstrations."

"It is fundamentally a call for a Palestinian state extending from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, territory that includes the State of Israel, which would mean the dismantling of the Jewish state," the Anti-Defamation League says. "It is an antisemitic charge denying the Jewish right to self-determination, including through the removal of Jews from their ancestral homeland." 

But Tlaib said the phrase is "an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate." Her video also accused President Biden of supporting "the genocide of the Palestinian people" through his backing of Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza.

McCormick said on the House floor on Monday that the behavior was "entirely unbecoming" of a member of the House. 

In a statement responding to the censure resolutions, Tlaib did not address her defense of the slogan, instead accusing her colleagues of "distorting my positions in resolutions filled with obvious lies." 

"It's a shame my colleagues are more focused on silencing me than they are on saving lives, as the death toll in Gaza surpasses 10,000. Many of them have shown me that Palestinian lives simply do not matter to them, but I still do not police their rhetoric or actions," Tlaib said. "I have repeatedly denounced the horrific targeting and killing of civilians by Hamas and the Israeli government, and have mourned the Israeli and Palestinian lives lost." 

Later Monday, Democratic Rep. Sara Jacobs of California filed a censure resolution against GOP Rep. Brian Mast of Florida for inflammatory comments he made last week comparing Palestinian civilians to Nazis during World War II. 

"I would encourage the other side to not so lightly throw around the idea of 'innocent Palestinian civilians,' as is frequently said," Mast said Wednesday. "I don't think we would so lightly throw around the term 'innocent Nazi civilians' during World War II. … There's not this far stretch to say there are very few innocent Palestinian civilians." 

Jacobs' resolution will also have to be considered within two days. 

In:
• Marjorie Taylor Greene
• Rashida Tlaib

Caitlin Yilek

Caitlin Yilek is a politics reporter at cbsnews.com and is based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked for the Washington Examiner and The Hill, and was a member of the 2022 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship with the National Press Foundation.

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