Washington – Democrats on Monday defended a freshman member of their ranks after President Donald Trump and his allies mischaracterized her remarks about the Holocaust to accuse her of anti-Semitism.
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Michigan Democrat Rashida Tlaib told a Yahoo News podcast that she gets “a calming feeling” when she thinks of “the tragedy of the Holocaust” and how the suffering of her Palestinian ancestors helped in trying to create “a safe haven” for Jews in the new state of Israel.
The remark instantly ignited an online fight, with Republicans incorrectly describing Tlaib’s words as reflecting her feelings about the genocide itself that cost millions of lives, including those of 6 million Jews.
Trump spread the idea by tweeting on Monday that Tlaib has a “hatred” of Israel and Jews.
It was the latest upheaval over the words of some of the first Muslims in Congress after Rep. Ilhan Omar questioned Israel’s influence in Washington. Senior Democrats rebuked her, and Omar apologized once.
A Democratic leader demanded an apology to Tlaib.
“If you read Rep. Tlaib’s comments, it is clear that President Trump and Congressional Republicans are taking them out of context,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland. “They must stop, and they owe her an apology.”
“Obviously I don’t think that she hates Israel or hates Jews,” said Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Michigan, on Fox News. “She’s not a hateful person. She’s not a bigoted person.”
The issue had its roots in Tlaib’s remarks on the Yahoo News podcast “Skullduggery,” in which she was asked about her backing of a one-state solution to the conflict in Israel. She replied by noting the U.S. recently commemorated Holocaust Remembrance Day.
“There’s a kind of a calming feeling, I always tell folks, when I think of the Holocaust and the tragedy of the Holocaust, and the fact that it was my ancestors — Palestinians — who lost their land, and some lost their lives, their livelihood, their human dignity, their existence, in many ways, had been wiped out,” Tlaib said around the halfway point in the 55-minute podcast , dated Friday. “I mean, just all of it was in the name of trying to create a safe haven for Jews, post-the Holocaust, post-the tragedy and horrific persecution of Jews across the world at that time.”
She continued: “I love the fact that it was my ancestors that provided that, right, in many ways. But they did it in a way that took their human dignity away, right? And it was forced on them. And so, when I think about one-state, I think about the fact that, why couldn’t we do it in a better way?”
Republicans pounced on the phrasing “calming feeling.” Trump tweeted Tlaib “obviously has tremendous hatred of Israel and the Jewish people.” That echoed earlier comments by House Republicans, who called on Democrats to stand against what House GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney called “anti-Semitism.”
“All of us, regardless of party, must stand as Americans against the evil of anti-Semitism,” Cheney, R-Wyo., said in a statement. “If the Democratic leadership continues to stand by in silence, they are enabling the spread of evil.”
Tlaib shot back in a tweet and a statement that Republicans were twisting her words.
“Policing my words, twisting & turning them to ignite vile attacks on me will not work,” she said. “All of you who are trying to silence me will fail miserably. I will never allow you to take my words out of context to push your racist and hateful agenda. The truth will always win.”
The party of Democrats is not the same as it once was. Far from it. Democrats are now freely and openly showing their hatred of Jews and Israel. Their party leaders remain silent, and when pushed to the limit to condemn the hate within their party, they chose to make a blanket statement against all hate, refusing to call out the anti semites in their party, and refusing to call out anti Semitism specifically. Jews, you have an obligation to stand up against this evil in our midst. Silence during the holocaust allowed it to happen, don’t make the same mistake in our time!
she keeps saying that her words are being twisted, yet never offered a clarification of what she supposedly DID mean… hmmmm…
Yes, she hates Israel and NO she does not hate Jews. Its two different things.
Her remarks cld be interpreted badly so she shld be more careful.
As a conservative Trump supporter, I absolutely state that conservatives and Republicans have tremendous love for the “Jewish State”. They love Israel and with that in mind they think they love Jews. Some may and some dont but Its Zionism that they love.
Now why am I a Republican? Because I like their policies and many Republicans know the truth but the majority of them are Zionist supporters because theyre under the assumption that Israel is the Jewish homeland. IT IS NOT. IT WILL BE ON DAY.
ZIONISM IS THE ANTITHESIS IS OF JUDAISM!
She’s a LIAR…..the Arabs collaborated with Hitler,y’s,and the Jerusalem Mufti was a Nazihimself, and all their murderous riots in Hevron, the Gush, etc helped create a haven for us!?
Her words are not out of context, she is. Send her back to her camel;she clearly doesn’t belong in the Great US
Actually, she is brilliant. her words were meant to take the spotlight off the Jews as victims on Holocaust memorial day, and imply that really, at the end of the day, the PALESTINIANS were the greatest victims of the Holocaust. The Jews only suffered briefly compared to her people. How crazy that she actually believes that.
All the muslims in the US Congress are revolting