Rashida Tlaib's defense of pro-Palestinian phrase leads to sharp rebukes by Democrats

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib's defense of a pro-Palestinian phrase that has been condemned by some as incendiary and antisemitic because of its use by Hamas and other enemies of Israel is drawing sharp criticism not just by Republicans but from some Democrats as well, including U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Lansing.

Posting on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, Slotkin, the only Jewish member of Michigan's congressional delegation, on Sunday said the phrase — "from the river to sea" — is "one of division & violence, & is counterproductive to promoting peace" at a time when Israel is invading Gaza in response to attacks by Hamas that killed more than 1,400 Israelis last month.

Various commentators and Jewish support groups including the Anti-Defamation League consider the phrase "from the river to the sea" — which is generally seen as calling for a Palestinian state to be created stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, encompassing the state of Israel — as antisemitic, since it has been adopted as a call by Hamas and other organizations considered terrorist groups that have attacked Israel and called for its destruction.

"I have worked to reach out to Arab & Muslim constituents who I know are feeling fear and anguish right now, & I have tried to reflect that empathy in my approach to this crisis. I ask the same of @RepRashida," Slotkin posted, referring to Tlaib by her name on the social media platform. Both women were elected to Congress in 2018.

Now, Tlaib, D-Detroit, may again face a censure vote in the House with two Republican members from Georgia introducing privileged motions to do so that could be taken up within two legislative days. In one case, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene reintroduced a measure to censure Tlaib for other remarks related to the Israeli war with Hamas. That same resolution was blocked last week as Democrats and nearly two dozen Republicans voted to table it.

U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick's censure measure, on the other hand, specifically cited Tlaib's use of "from the river to the sea" as tacitly calling for the destruction of Israel and saying she had also promoted false narratives about Hamas' initial attack on Israel.

Tlaib said on Monday that her critics, including Slotkin and the others, were attempting to "silence" her, much as she had accused Republicans of doing with their censure resolutions. She also pointed to a new poll, done by Lake Research Partners in Washington, indicating 71% of Michigan Democrats support a cease-fire.

"My colleagues are much more focused on silencing me — the only Palestinian American voice in Congress — than they are on ending the horrific attacks on civilians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank right now," Tlaib said in a statement to the Free Press. "Instead of attacking me and distorting my words, they should listen to their constituents and call for a cease-fire to save innocent lives."

Lake Research surveyed 513 likely Democratic voters from Oct. 30 to last Thursday; the poll had a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points. Other polls — including a CBS News/YouGov national poll released Sunday — have showed that voters generally support the U.S. sending military aid to Israel but that Democrats are more divided over the question than Republicans.

Slotkin's remarks came as others — including several members of Congress, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, state Sen. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, and others — sharply criticized Tlaib for defending the phrase on Friday. Initially, it was featured, with crowds chanting it in Michigan, in a video message made by a worker-owned, anti-capitalist streaming service called Means TV, which also featured Tlaib, to President Joe Biden. In it, Tlaib did not say the phrase herself but demanded Biden insist on a cease-fire with thousands of Palestinians, including innocent civilians, in Gaza being killed in the Israeli invasion.

The video message, which included scenes of destruction in the Middle East and rallies for a cease-fire across the U.S., said Biden was supporting genocide in Palestinian territories and that Arab Americans in Michigan and elsewhere would "remember" in next year's election.

"Mr. President, the people are not with you on this one," Tlaib, who is the only Palestinian American in Congress and represents Dearborn, one of the largest Arab American communities in the country, said in the video.

After posting the video message, Tlaib — who has denounced both the attacks by Hamas and Israel's response as "war crimes" — then put another post on X mentioning the phrase and defending its use, saying it's "an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate. My work and advocacy is always centered in justice and dignity for all people no matter faith or ethnicity."

Many social media commentators fired back, however, with some calling her defense of the phrase a call for genocide and labeling her a bigot.

"This is not how Jews view the phrase 'from the river to the sea.' This is not how Hamas views the phrase 'from the river to the sea,'" Moss, who is Jewish, wrote on X. "Hamas uses it as a rallying cry. And they don’t simply want to displace Jews in Israel. They want Jews dead."

Nessel, who is also Jewish, said to Tlaib on social media, "I have supported and defended you countless times, even when you have said the indefensible, because I believed you to be a good person whose heart was in the right place. But this is so hurtful to so many. Please retract this cruel and hateful remark."

Some have defended Tlaib's characterization of the phrase, however, including Beth Miller, political director of Jewish Voice for Peace, an anti-Zionist organization that has criticized Israel's occupation of the Gaza Strip and West Bank and called for a cease-fire to an Israeli response to Hamas' attacks that have already claimed some 10,000 lives in Gaza, according to Palestinian health reports.

"I am Jewish and am part of a vast and growing progressive Jewish community that understands the phrase as it is intended: Freedom for all people — not just Jews — between the river & the sea," Miller wrote in response to Moss' criticism.

Jewish Voice for Peace has also been labeled by some pro-Israeli groups as antisemitic, however, for backing movements to end support to Israel as a way to halt Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. Since 2007, after Hamas took over the Gaza Strip, Israel and Egypt have blockaded the tiny area, with Israel imposing strict movement on its people as well as goods and services flowing into or out of the area, causing vast hardship and rights violations, according to many human rights groups.

The U.S. has historically been a huge financial supporter of Israel, providing $159 billion in various forms of aid since its creation, as of this year. Biden wants Congress to pass an additional $14.3 billion in aid to Israel in response to the ongoing conflict.

Hamas, meanwhile, is believed to raise sums from other Middle East countries, including hundreds of millions a year from Iran.

Last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated Israel's right to defend itself but continued to press for humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza and said more needed to be done to protect Palestinian civilians.

Tlaib has been under fire for comments ever since the Hamas surprise attacks on Oct. 7. when she initially issued a statement laying at least partial blame on the Israeli blockade of Gaza and the human rights violations there. That led to condemnation by other members of Congress, including a move by U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Watersmeet, to censure her, though that censure resolution hasn't moved forward in the wake of the defeat of last week's proposed censure by Greene.

Several Republicans, including three from the Michigan delegation, voted with Democrats to table Tlaib's censure last week, with GOP members saying Tlaib had a right to express her views, even if they fervently disagreed with them.

Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Rashida Tlaib's defense of 'from the river to the sea' draws rebukes