Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member of Congress, was censured by the House of Representatives on Tuesday night, a move that elicited wide condemnation from many Arab and Muslim Americans as well as a prominent senator.
The House passed the resolution to censure Tlaib, a Democrat who represents Michigan’s 12th congressional district, by a vote of 234 to 188 that was largely split down partisan lines. All but four Republicans voted for the resolution, while 22 Democrats broke ranks and voted yes. Among the Democrats to vote for the resolution were Rep. Ritchie Torres of New York, an outspoken opponent of antisemitism, and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, a former chair of the Democratic National Committee and a close ally of the Biden administration.
The resolution, which was introduced by Republican Rep. Richard McCormick of Georgia, accused Tlaib of “promoting false narratives” about Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel.
The text cited Tlaib sharing a video on X on Nov. 3 that featured the phrase “from the river to the sea," a reference to Palestinian liberation from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea — an area that encompasses the state of Israel. The resolution referred to the phrase as a "genocidal call to violence to destroy the state of Israel and its people."
