U.S. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib during a Town Hall style meeting in Inkster, Michigan, U.S. August 15, 2019. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) introduced a resolution in Congress on May 16 that recognizes the Nakba, Arab for “catastrophe” in referencing Israel’s declaration of independence in 1948.
The resolution stated that after Israel’s war for independence, the Jewish state “had depopulated more than 400 Palestinian villages and cities” and that “the Nakba refers not only to a historical event but to an ongoing process of Israel’s expropriation of Palestinian land and its dispossession of the Palestinian people that continues to this day through the establishment and expansion of approximately 300 illegal settlements and outposts in the occupied Palestinian West Bank in which approximately 674,000 Israelis reside as of 2020.” The resolution concludes with a call for the House of Representatives “to commemorate the Nakba” and endorses a right of return for the more than 700,000 Palestinian refugees who lost their homes during the war.
This resolution from Rashida Tlaib and a half dozen other Democrats on the “Nakba,” labels Palestinian Arabs as “indigenous inhabitants” of Israel implicitly denying the country as the Jewish homeland https://t.co/uGF0zlLx4S
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) May 17, 2022
“On this day, we must promote human rights & justice,” Tlaib tweeted. “The Palestinian people since the 48 Nakba have been living under oppression and violent racism. Silence + blank checks enables more death and violence.”
On this day, we must promote human rights & justice. The Palestinian people since the 48 Nakba have been living under oppression and violent racism. Silence + blank checks enables more death and violence.
— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) May 16, 2022
Various Jewish groups criticized the resolution.
“The root of the catastrophe: the Arab world refused to accept the UN plan for a Jewish & Arab state in what was left of the UK’s Palestine Mandate after Jordan’s creation,” Democrat Majority for Israel tweeted. “Instead, 5 Arab armies invaded Israel, attempting to destroy it & push the Jews into the Mediterranean Sea.”
The root of the catastrophe: the Arab world refused to accept the UN plan for a Jewish & Arab state in what was left of the UK's Palestine Mandate after Jordan’s creation. Instead, 5 Arab armies invaded Israel, attempting to destroy it & push the Jews into the Mediterranean Sea. https://t.co/VTSgQy0fXm
— Democratic Majority for Israel (@DemMaj4Israel) May 16, 2022
Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) Chairman Norm Coleman criticized the resolution in a May 18 statement, arguing that it “distorts history and international law in service to an anti-Israel agenda that has no place in the US Congress.” “This is another attempt by the most radical leftists in Congress to delegitimize our ally Israel and to promote anti-Israel and frankly antisemitic efforts to destroy the only democracy in the Middle East,” he said. “The fact that such a resolution could be introduced at all demonstrates that the Democratic leadership in the House is completely unwilling or unable to rein in the worst impulses of their caucus.”
Democratic leadership in the House is completely unwilling or unable to rein in the worst impulses of their caucus. @RJC's full response to the "Nakba" Resolution: pic.twitter.com/OR3cfXAapV
— RJC (@RJC) May 18, 2022
The Coalition of Jewish Values (CJV), which describes itself as an organization “representing over 2,000 rabbis in matters of American public policy,” condemned the resolution as being “openly antisemitic.” “Arab armies responded to Israel’s founding with a call for genocide, and have continued with repeated wars and horrific acts of terrorism for the sole purpose of killing Jews and destroying the world’s only Jewish state,” CJV Israel Regional Vice President Rabbi Steven Pruzansky said in a statement. “They proclaimed their intent in 1948 as a ‘momentous massacre,’ to kill all Jews in Israel as Hitler did in Germany, and what they call a ‘Nakba’ is that they fell 99% short of that obscene goal.”
Representative Lee Zeldin (R-NY), who is currently running for governor in New York, similarly said in a statement: “This resolution is just the latest in a long line of antisemitic, anti-Israel statements, policies and actions by the most radical voices in the Democratic Party. Whether it’s supporting the antisemitic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, falsely accusing Israel of war crimes, or suggesting that support for Israel by members of Congress is ‘all about the Benjamins’, this group on the far-left never misses an opportunity to dangerously promote antisemitic and anti-Israel sentiments and agendas.”
He added: “What’s even more disturbing is the unwillingness of Nancy Pelosi and House Democratic leadership to condemn this vile behavior. Israel is our nation’s strongest ally, the only functioning democracy in the Middle East, and the victim of repeated attacks and threats of destruction from its hostile neighbors.”
The “Squad” just proposed a reso in Congress to force the US to formally recognize “Nakba”, labeling the creation of Israel a “catastrophe”. They never miss an opportunity to dangerously promote its antisemitic, anti-Israel agenda. pic.twitter.com/j3vL2veBZb
— Lee Zeldin (@LeeMZeldin) May 17, 2022
Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro tweeted, “The Palestinian refugee issue exists because the Arab states refused to recognize literally any partition plan at any time, then kept them in refugee camps. It is that simple. 850,000 Jews were expelled from Arab countries during the same time period; all were absorbed by Israel.”
The Palestinian refugee issue exists because the Arab states refused to recognize literally any partition plan at any time, then kept them in refugee camps. It is that simple. 850,000 Jews were expelled from Arab countries during the same time period; all were absorbed by Israel.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) May 18, 2022
Siamak Kordestani, West Coast Director of the European Leadership Network, similarly asked Tlaib in a tweet if “the resolution [will] also mention the 850,000 Mizrahi Jews ethnically cleansed by Arab countries in the 1940s and 50s.”
Will the resolution also mention the 850,000 Mizrahi Jews ethnically cleansed by Arab countries in the 1940s and 50s? pic.twitter.com/Wn9sMFMzOm
— Sia Kordestani (@SiaKordestani) May 17, 2022
Iranian Americans for Liberty Executive Bryan Leib called Tlaib “a stain on American democracy” in a tweet and that “she should be stripped of all committee assignments once @HouseGOP takes back the majority this November.”
Rashida Tlaib is a stain on American democracy, and she should be stripped of all committee assignments once @HouseGOP takes back the majority this November. @RashidaTlaib https://t.co/9RZkvMihIP
— Bryan E. Leib (@BryanLeibFL) May 19, 2022
Ellie Cohanim, former Deputy Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, similarly tweeted that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) need “to condemn those in the #Democrat party who would label the founding of Israel as ‘The Catastrophe’. It’s time to prove that your party is not anti-Israel.”
It’s time for @SenSchumer & @SpeakerPelosi to condemn those in the #Democrat party who would label the founding of Israel as “The Catastrophe”.
It’s time to prove that your party is not anti-Israel. https://t.co/33LcBb6ahN— Ellie Cohanim (@EllieCohanim) May 17, 2022
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