Anti-Defamation League (ADL) CEO Jonathan Greenblatt called on Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) to clarify her association with a Hezbollah supporter and condemn his anti-Semitism.
Greenblatt tweeted on Thursday that Tlaib was seen photographed with Abbas Hamideh, “who has praised terrorist groups Hamas & Hezbollah and equated Zionists with Nazis.”
“We ask her to clarify his attendance and denounce his anti-Semitism,” Greenblatt wrote.
Days ago, @RashidaTlaib was photographed at an event with Abbas Hamideh, a man who has praised terrorist groups Hamas & Hezbollah and equated Zionists with Nazis. We ask her to clarify his attendance and denounce his anti-Semitism. More on Hamideh: https://t.co/sFrouCNSaZ 2/3
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) January 17, 2019
Here is the tweet in question:
I was honored to be at Congresswoman @RashidaTlaib swearing in ceremony in #Detroit and private dinner afterward with the entire family, friends and activists across the country. #Palestine #TweetYourThobe #RashidaTlaib pic.twitter.com/caJPN12ODX
— Abbas Hamideh (@Resistance48) January 12, 2019
According to the ADL, Hamideh tweeted in May 2018, “Long live the courageous #Hezbollah!” and tweeted in January 2015, “If any #Arab hates #Hezbollah the resistance group that gives you the highest form of pride & honor, you should see a psychiatrist.”
Additionally, Hamideh tweeted to the Canary Mission watchdog on January 13, “Criminal Zionism will eventually die just like Nazism. No racist and supremacist political ideology should maintain itself. This is why you’re covert and financed by AIPAC.” He also tweeted in May 2014, “Quit whining about Jews suffering for centuries that is pure bulls—. The creation of israel [sic] is still a crime no matter what.”
Hamideh has also repeatedly expressed support for Rasmea Odeh, the former Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist who was convicted of two Jerusalem supermarket bombings in 1969 that resulted in the death of two American students. In 2004, Hamideh protested Israel’s killing of Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi, per the ADL’s report.
Tlaib has yet to address her association with Hamideh. Her only apparent public reference to it was a tweet accusing “right wing media” of targeting her.
