May 9, 2023

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) announced on Twitter that he has canceled Representative Rashida Tlaib’s (D-MI) Nakba Day event scheduled for May 10 at the Capitol Visitor Center.

McCarthy tweeted on May 9 that in place of the Nakba Day event, he “will host a bipartisan discussion to honor the 75th anniversary of the US-Israel relationship.” McCarthy further told The Washington Free Beacon, “It’s wrong for members of Congress to traffic in anti-Semitic tropes about Israel. As long as I’m Speaker, we are going to support Israel’s right to self-determination and self-defense, unequivocally and in a bipartisan fashion.”

The event was organized by several anti-Israel groups and while Tlaib listed as a guest on the event page, reserving an event at the Visitor Center can only be done by a sitting member of Congress. The “nakba,” Arabic for “catastrophe,” is the Palestinian narrative of the establishment of Israel and the ensuing War for Independence in 1948.

McCarthy received plaudits on Twitter from elected officials and Jewish groups for nixing the event.

“Thank you, @SpeakerMcCarthy,” Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) tweeted. “Every member of Congress should immediately condemn this disgusting antisemitism. We need to send a message: the United States will always stand with Israel.”

Thank you, @SpeakerMcCarthy.

Every member of Congress should immediately condemn this disgusting antisemitism. We need to send a message: the United States will always stand with Israel. https://t.co/kzd8AE6nZh

— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) May 10, 2023

“Thank you @SpeakerMcCarthy for putting an end to this anti-Semitic event at the US Capitol and for recognizing the important relationship between The US and Israel — 75 years strong,” Representative Mike Lawler (R-NY) similarly tweeted.

Thank you @SpeakerMcCarthy for putting an end to this anti-Semitic event at the US Capitol and for recognizing the important relationship between The US and Israel — 75 years strong. https://t.co/IfoCN81jH1

— Congressman Mike Lawler (@RepMikeLawler) May 10, 2023

Stop Antisemitism tweeted to McCarthy, “Thank you for standing up to Tlaib’s ongoing hate campaigns against the world’s only Jewish nation. Enough is enough!”

Thank you for standing up to Tlaib's ongoing hate campaigns against the world's only Jewish nation. Enough is enough!

— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) May 10, 2023

Judea Pearl, chancellor professor of computer science at UCLA, National Academy of Sciences member and Daniel Pearl Foundation president, tweeted that McCarthy’s move was a “wise decision” but noted that “it deprive[d] @RashidaTlaib from reaffirming in public what pro-coexistence folks have been claiming for years: Palestinians cannot depict a future that does not entail the demise of their neighbors.”

A wise decision by @SpeakerMcCarthy, but it deprive @RashidaTlaib from reaffirming in public what pro-coexistence folks have been claiming for years: Palestinians cannot depict a
future that does not entail the demise of their neighbors. @JGreenblattADL @DavidSuissaJJ @Ostrov_A https://t.co/7qs1DY4Llh

— Judea Pearl (@yudapearl) May 10, 2023

Elan Carr, former Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, tweeted: “Thank you, Mr. @SpeakerMcCarthy, for reaffirming that the U.S. Capitol is a place of philosemitism, not antisemitism.”

Thank you, Mr. @SpeakerMcCarthy, for reaffirming that the U.S. Capitol is a place of philosemitism, not antisemitism. https://t.co/idCHhZzaki

— Elan Carr (@ElanSCarr) May 10, 2023

Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) President Morton A. Klein said in a statement that “Tlaib’s frequent vicious libels of Jews and Israel render her unfit to serve in the U.S. Congress or on any House committee” and the Nakba Day event would have promulgated “the sick, twisted, hateful, genocidal concept that it is a ‘catastrophe’ that Israel has managed to survive, and that the Arabs failed to totally annihilate Israel’s Jewish population and homeland in 1948 or in the 75 years since then.”

Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) will be hosting an event at the Capitol Visitor Center on May 10 commemorating Nakba Day.

The event, titled “Nakba 75 & the Palestinian People,” lists several anti-Israel groups as organizers, including Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Action, the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR), and Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU). The event page says that it will feature Tlaib, but The Washington Free Beacon and Jerusalem Post both noted that only “a sitting member of Congress” can reserve a spot at the Capitol Visitor Center.

“May 15th marks 75 years since the beginning of the Nakba, which means ‘catastrophe,’” the event page states. “Seventy-five years ago, Zionist militias and the new Israeli military violently expelled approximately three-quarters of all Palestinians from their homes and homeland in what became the state of Israel. To uplift the experiences of Palestinians who underwent the Nakba, and educate Members of Congress and their staff about this history and the ongoing Nakba to which Israel continues to subject Palestinians, we’ve partnered together to host this congressional and community educational event, to be followed immediately afterward by dinner.”

Representative Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) told The Jerusalem Post, “There is strong bipartisan support in Congress for the US-Israel relationship, and no effort that attempts to rewrite history and question Israel’s right to exist has any hope of succeeding. At a time when that relationship is integral to our joint fight against terror, expansion of Israeli-Arab normalization efforts, and shared security and intelligence efforts, this narrative only sows divisiveness and hate.”

Jewish groups also denounced Tlaib and the event.

“The real Nakba is [that Tlaib] got elected to represent her district and the American people in Congress,” Simon Wiesenthal Center Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action Agenda Rabbi Abraham Cooper told the Free Beacon. “She could have been and should have been someone who would work tirelessly to bring Palestinians and Israelis together to make peace. Instead, she continues to serve as a cheerleader for demonization and delegitimization of the Jewish state.”

Stop Antisemitism Executive Director Liora Rez similarly told The New York Post that Tlaib “continues to mischaracterize Israel’s history and policies, making her a natural ally for organizations like IMEU, one of the top propagators of false anti-Israel rhetoric on social media. The real ‘catastrophe’ is Rep. Tlaib and her allies’ refusal to engage with Zionism in good faith. Fact checks haven’t stopped them because they hold ideology above accuracy; as long as they ignore the reality of Israel’s past, they can’t participate in honest conversations about its present and future.”

Brooke Goldstein, who heads The Lawfare Project and co-founded End Jew Hatred, tweeted: “It’s one thing to spew hateful rhetoric, it’s another to use US Congress to do so. Rashida Tlaib [shouldn’t] be permitted to hold a ‘Nakba Day’ event on US Congress property. This day ‘mourns’ the inability of Arabs to commit a genocide of Jews in 1948. Outrageous and unacceptable.”

It’s one thing to spew hateful rhetoric, it’s another to use US Congress to do so. Rashida Tlaib shouldnt be permitted to hold a “Nakba Day” event on US Congress property. This day “mourns” the inability of Arabs to commit a genocide of Jews in 1948. Outrageous and unacceptable. pic.twitter.com/bF75LaFjvI

— Brooke Goldstein (@GoldsteinBrooke) May 9, 2023

The Republican Jewish Coalition tweeted, “These are the ascendant anti-Israel voices in the Democratic Party, and House Democrats continue to pathetically coddle them.”

Antisemitic Democrat @RashidaTlaib is hosting a “Nakba Day” event in the U.S. Capitol, calling Israel’s establishment a “catastrophe”.

These are the ascendant anti-Israel voices in the Democratic Party, and House Democrats continue to pathetically coddle them. https://t.co/xtR6D9pex1

— RJC (@RJC) May 8, 2023

Tlaib’s office did not immediately respond to the Journal’s request for comment.