Representatives Cori Bush (D-MO) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), both of whom are members of “The Squad,” issued tweets on August 23 condemning the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) arrest of protesters as emboldening “Israel’s apartheid.”
The PA arrested at least 23 protesters on August 21 in Ramallah, with more arrests coming, The Times of Israel reported. The protesters were calling for the PA to answer for the death of Nizar Banat, a staunch critic of the PA who died in June while in PA custody.
Bush tweeted, “Shame on the Palestinian Authority. Suppressing dissent and criminalizing protest only deepens the violence of Israel’s apartheid system. We stand with Palestinians against the violence of the Palestinian Authority’s authoritarianism. Freedom for political prisoners now.”
Shame on the Palestinian Authority.
Suppressing dissent and criminalizing protest only deepens the violence of Israel’s apartheid system.
We stand with Palestinians against the violence of the Palestinian Authority’s authoritarianism. Freedom for political prisoners now. https://t.co/6lZmI6KAlX
— Cori Bush (@CoriBush) August 23, 2021
Tlaib similarly wrote: “Dear [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas, This is NOT how you protect and serve the Palestinian people. Shame on you for suppressing Palestinian voices who are trying to seek liberation from not only the Israeli apartheid government, but from your corrupt leadership.”
Dear President Mahmoud Abbas,
This is NOT how you protect and serve the Palestinian people. Shame on you for suppressing Palestinian voices who are trying to seek liberation from not only the Israeli apartheid government, but from your corrupt leadership. https://t.co/xMwCn73r0I
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) August 23, 2021
Stop Antisemitism tweeted out screenshots of both Bush and Tlaib’s tweets and wrote: “It’s almost like they share the same social media person that has no clue what apartheid truly means.”
It’s almost like they share the same social media person that has no clue what apartheid truly means. pic.twitter.com/kTNUB6dWVk
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) August 24, 2021
Most of the outrage on Twitter was directed at Bush’s tweet.
“The sheer blindness and Jew hatred of someone like @CoriBush, that the only way she could condemn [the] Palestinian [Authority], is if she found a way to twist it into Israel!” Human Rights Lawyer and International Legal Forum CEO Arsen Ostrovksy tweeted.
The sheer blindness and Jew hatred of someone like @CoriBush, that the only way she could condemn Palestinian Auth, is if she found a way to twist it into Israel! https://t.co/I3T9AjdU5M
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) August 24, 2021
Jeff Ballabon, CEO of B2 Strategic and Founder of the American Restoration Institute, tweeted: “FACT: Arabs in Israel have far greater freedom and human rights than under the PA. FACT: PA is a terror organization that engages in brutal oppression and ethnic cleansing, while Israel is liberal, democratic, tolerant, free and multiethnic. FACT: Cori Bush is an antisemite.”
FACT: Arabs in Israel have far greater freedom and human rights than under the PA
FACT: PA is a terror organization that engages in brutal oppression and ethnic cleansing, while Israel is liberal, democratic, tolerant, free and multiethnic
FACT: Cori Bush is an antisemite https://t.co/Ks5qNNqGQo— Ballabon (@ballabon) August 24, 2021
Haviv Rettig Gur, a senior analyst for The Times of Israel, tweeted: “Someday, in an unexpected flash of insight, [Bush is] going to notice how the PA’s brutality drove the Second Intifada and demolished the Israeli left. A few years later, in yet another flash, she’ll start to wonder about Hamas’ role. They’ll get there, people. Give them time.”
Someday, in an unexpected flash of insight, she's going to notice how the PA's brutality drove the Second Intifada and demolished the Israeli left.
A few years later, in yet another flash, she'll start to wonder about Hamas' role.
They'll get there, people. Give them time. https://t.co/OoYagDLcQo
— Haviv Rettig Gur (@havivrettiggur) August 24, 2021
Journalist Zaid Jilani, on the other hand, asked in a tweet if those criticizing Bush’s tweet are “really unaware that the PA is widely viewed as a subcontractor of the Israeli government? They frequently suppress protests and arrest folks on behalf of Israel.” As evidence, he pointed to a 2014 New York Times op-ed quoting a PA security official stating that if Israel needs “someone… we are tasked to get that person for them.”
https://twitter.com/ZaidJilani/status/1429967046092206080?s=20
https://twitter.com/ZaidJilani/status/1429967226166255619?s=20
George Mason University Law Professor David Bernstein responded to Jilani by tweeting: “Israel would be 1K times happier with a democratic, liberal government to replace the PA that (a) sincerely wanted to make peace; and (b) didn’t do pay for slay; and (c) ended incitement. The PA is only preferable to the most likely alternative, Hamas, which is even more brutal.” “Pay for slay” is a reference to the PA’s policy of paying terrorists and their families for murdering Jews and Israelis.
https://twitter.com/ProfDBernstein/status/1429976352971755520?s=20
Bush and Tlaib’s offices did not respond to the Journal’s requests for comment.
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