Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) attended and spoke at a May 15 rally in Dearborn, MI that featured a speaker who said that “we are the Arabs who are going to lift the Palestinians all the way to victory.”
Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reported that the speaker, Arab American News Publisher Osama Siblani, said to the crowd: “Do you see what is happening in Palestine? They thought that 1948 was the demarcation line. They thought we forgot. Now, surprise, fedayeen are setting out from the land of 1948.” “Fedayeen” is Arabic for “one who sacrifices himself,” according to Jewish Virtual Library. “They are striking them with their knives and with their bare hands, and they are victorious,” Siblani added.
He then declared: “We are the Arabs who are going to lift the Palestinians all the way to victory, whether we are in Michigan and whether we are in Jenin.” Siblani said that “everyone should fight within his means,” saying that “they will fight with stones, others will fight with guns, others will fight with planes, drones, and rockets. Others will fight with their voices, and others will fight with their hands and say, ‘Free, free Palestine!’”
Arab-American Activist Osama Siblani during Dearborn, Michigan Nakba Day Rally: We Arabs, Whether in Michigan or Jenin, Will Help Bring the Palestinians to Victory, with Stones, Guns, Planes, Drones, Rockets, and Our Voices #israel #Palestinians #ShireenAbuAkleh pic.twitter.com/99tsVMN0Lt
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) May 18, 2022
Siblani’s speech took place during a Nakba Day rally hosted by Palestinian-American comedian and activist Amer Zahr. During her speech at the rally, Tlaib vowed to vote against the unconditional military aid the United States provides to Israel and fight against Israel’s “apartheid status quo.” Tlaib’s office did not respond to the Journal’s request for comment by publication time.
Jonah Cohen, Communications Director for the Committee for Accuracy and Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), said in a statement: “Congresswoman Tlaib shared a stage with a man who was literally shouting for violence in Michigan. By sharing a platform with such a demagogue, Tlaib has given an air of legitimacy to his appalling calls for bloodshed in America. Extremist rhetoric like his has led to a spike in antisemitic hate crimes across the nation.”
CAMERA analyst David Litman also said in a statement, “The media has a solemn duty to find out whether Rashida Tlaib condemns the dangerous extremism that was on full display at the rally. There is no excuse for violent rhetoric which puts America’s Jewish minority at risk.”
Journalist Karmel Melamed tweeted, “This is disgraceful and horrific to see in America today! Jew-hating clowns calling for the genocide of Jews and inciting violence against Jews. I’d expect to hear this garbage from the Ayatollahs and their goons in Iran… not in Michigan!”
This is disgraceful and horrific to see in America today! Jew-hating clowns calling for the genocide of Jews and inciting violence against Jews. I'd expect to hear this garbage from the Ayatollahs and their goons in Iran… not in Michigan!🤮 https://t.co/ZTsixQntiu
— Karmel Melamed (@KarmelMelamed) May 18, 2022
Middle East analyst Seth Frantzman tweeted that the rally looked “like a far-right rally…except in the West they pretend this is progressive. It’s like a huge scam for these people who all belong on the thuggish far right but found a cause where they can still get accepted in polite society as being for a ‘cool cause.’”
This looks like a far-right rally…except in the West they pretend this is progressive. It's like a huge scam for these people who all belong on the thuggish far right but found a cause where they can still get accepted in polite society as being for a "cool cause"…
— Seth Frantzman (@sfrantzman) May 22, 2022
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