Democrats Fail To Shield Rashida Tlaib From Censure for Anti-Israel Comments

The House on Tuesday rejected a Democratic-led effort to protect Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., from censure for her inflammatory rhetoric surrounding the Israel-Hamas war.

The attempt to kill the censure resolution failed 208-213.

The House then immediately launched into floor debate on the resolution to condemn Tlaib, the lone Palestinian American in Congress. The censure vote is scheduled for Wednesday, and the GOP-led effort is likely to succeed.

A majority of Democrats voted to kill the measure, denouncing Tlaib's comments on Israel while defending her right to free speech. But one Democrat, Illinois Rep. Brad Schneider, joined all but six Republicans in voting to move forward with censure, the House version of a formal rebuke. Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., voted "present."

The six Republicans who opposed proceeding with the censure resolution were Reps. Ken Buck of Colorado, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Ryan Zinke of Montana and John Duarte, Mike Garcia and Tom McClintock of California.

The resolution from Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., would censure Tlaib "for promoting false narratives regarding the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack
on Israel and for calling for the destruction of the state of Israel."

It refers to comments Tlaib made immediately after the attack defending "resistance" to the "apartheid state" and accuses her of spreading a false narrative that Israel intentionally bombed the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital on Oct. 17.

The measure also cites her recent social media video containing the phrase "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" — which the resolution notes is "widely recognized as a genocidal call to violence to destroy the state of Israel and its people to replace it with a Palestinian state extending from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea."

Minutes before the vote, more than six dozen Democrats, led by Schneider, put out a joint statement rejecting the use of the phrase “from the river to the sea,” although the statement did not mention Tlaib by name.

"We all feel deep anguish for the human suffering caused by the war in Gaza," the Democrats said. "Hamas started this war with a barbaric terrorist attack on October 7, 2023, and neither the Palestinian nor Israeli people can have peace as long as Hamas still rules over Gaza and threatens Israel."

However, the Democrats said Israel also needs to protect civilians as best it can and they endorsed "a humanitarian pause of limited space and time" to facilitate the release of Hamas-held hostages and delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians.

Tlaib's "river to the sea" comments came after she survived an attempt from Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., to censure her last week.

McCormick was one of 23 Republicans who joined all Democrats in killing Greene's resolution. That measure lost support in part because many Republicans disagreed with its language, which compared Tlaib's participation in a peaceful pro-Palestinian protest in the Cannon House office to "an insurrection."

Greene has since updated her resolution to remove any mention of "insurrection" and instead describe Tlaib's involvement in the protest as "inciting an illegal occupation of the Capitol Complex."

That's likely not toned down enough for Greene's measure to move forward. The House is set to vote on a Democratic motion to table Greene's resolution later Tuesday night.

Greene, picking a fight with her fellow Georgia Republican, posted a video on social media describing the differences between her resolution and McCormick's, which she called a "light slap on the wrist."

She accused GOP leaders of setting her up for failure, so that McCormick's resolution will prevail.

"I think the problem here in Washington with our Republican conference is they are unwilling to hold anyone accountable," Greene said. "And I am frankly sick and tired of it."

Tlaib said in her own social media post that the her positions have been distorted and that the censure resolutions are "filled with obvious lies." She said she will continue to advocate for a "mutual ceasefire" in Gaza to save Palestenian lives.

Most Democrats, and some Republicans, want to stop using censure as a tool for policing speech.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren told The Messenger that weekly censure wars aren’t doing the country much good. “I don’t think it's what the American people need for their day to day lives,” the California Democrat said of the bitterly divided House’s new normal.

Rep. Thomas Massie said he won't vote to censure anyone for constitutionally protected free speech.

"I'm ready to censure the next person that does a censure," the Kentucky Republican joked.

Warren Rojas contributed to this report.