U.S. House Votes to Censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib Over Israel Stance

The U.S. House late Tuesday night voted to censure Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan over her condemnation of Israel in its war against Hamas.

The resolution, put forward by a member of the Republican majority and passed 234-188, accused Tlaib, the sole Palestinian American in Congress, of “promoting false narratives regarding the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and for calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.”

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Twenty-two Democrats voted in favor. Four Republicans voted against the measure.

The legislation to rebuke the congresswoman gained momentum after she posted a video on X, the former Twitter, of pro-Palestinian protesters chanting “from the river to the sea,” which supporters of Israel regard as advocating the nation’s destruction, since it, along with the Palestinian territories, lie between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

In a posted statement on X hours before the vote, Tlaib, whose district is in the Detroit area, said “my colleagues have resorted to distorting my positions in resolutions filled with obvious lies.” She added that she had “repeatedly denounced the horrific targeting and killing of civilians by Hamas and the Israeli government, and have mourned the Israeli and Palestinian lives lost.”

But Representative Brad Schneider of Illinois, one of the Democrats who voted for the censure, said in a statement that “Congresswoman Tlaib has repeatedly insisted on using inflammatory language that dangerously amplifies Hamas propaganda and disinformation.”

The Israel-Hamas war has widened rifts within the Democratic Party as it prepares for the 2024 elections. Many Arab American and younger Democrats have been critical of President Joe Biden’s unyielding support of Israel in the conflict as it carries out a military campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

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The last member of Congress to face a censure was Representative Adam Schiff of California. In June, the chamber’s Republicans formally reprimanded him for what they called misrepresentations in congressional investigations he led of then-President Donald Trump, culminating in his first impeachment.

Schiff, before the vote, said he would wear the censure as a “badge of honor.”