Key top Democrats are remaining silent on controversial anti-Israel comments from Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., including her trumpeting of the antisemitic rallying cry, \u2018from the river to the sea,\u2019 before a potential vote on the congresswoman\u2019s censure that could come as soon as Tuesday afternoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Reps. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., and Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., all refused to answer questions from Fox specifically on Tlaib\u2019s \u2018from the river to the sea\u2019 comments.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., meanwhile, was noncommittal Tuesday when asked if she\u2019ll vote for the censure resolutions brought by Republicans against Tlaib.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019m just gonna see how things play out,\u2019 she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Speaking with reporters outside House Democrats\u2019 closed door conference meeting Tuesday, Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., addressed the back-and-forth of censure resolutions in Congress and Tlaib defending the use of the phrase \u2018from the river to the sea.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hoyer said the use of censure resolutions to sanction members for speech is at odds with the First Amendment. But he added that he \u2018violently\u2019 disagrees with Tlaib\u2019s use of the phrase.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hoyer characterized \u2018from the river to the sea\u2019 as, \u2018the Arab community, not just the Palestinian community, has been using that phrase from 1948 to today to express their intention to obliterate the State of Israel, established by the United Nations as a place of sanctuary and security and freedom for the Jewish people.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tlaib infamously tripled down on allegations that an Israeli airstrike was responsible for an explosion at al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza said to have killed hundreds, ignoring Israeli and U.S. intelligence, cited by President Biden himself while visiting the Jewish state, supporting that it was actually a misfired rocket by the armed group Palestinian Islamic Jihad behind the blast.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018As I said, the censure resolutions are not appropriate,\u2019 Hoyer said Tuesday. \u2018Instances where people say things they don\u2019t, that we don\u2019t agree with. Now, on the other hand, when a member threatens the life of another member, when a member\u2026 says I\u2019m their worst nightmare, that\u2019s a different story. That\u2019s threatening people. It\u2019s not expressing opinions, it\u2019s threatening people.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
A senior House Democrat leadership source tells Fox News that Democrats are not encouraging a vote either way on a Democratic resolution to sanction Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., over his comments likening Palestinian civilians to Nazis. Another senior House Democratic leadership source says the effort to sanction Mast will disappear if the House tables the resolution to censure Tlaib.<\/p>\n
Hoyer pointed to the speech given by Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., on the House Floor Tuesday on \u2018the fact that the First Amendment is an extraordinarily unique provision in the world.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019m profoundly disturbed that this House has gotten into a frenzy of censure resolutions to censure the speech of members of Congress,\u2019 Himes said, addressing House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., \u2018It\u2019s the second clause of the First Amendment to our Constitution that says that Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I don\u2019t much like any of the speech that the members who are accused of \u2013 foul speech \u2013 have engaged in,\u2019 he continued. \u2018But the test of our commitment to freedom of expression is not how hard we fight in a moment for the rights of those that we agree with. The test is whether we\u2019re willing to stand up for freedom of expression for somebody with whom we don\u2019t agree.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018It is time for us to stop trying to punish each other for the things that we say, no matter how abhorrent,\u2019 Himes said. \u2018Mr. Speaker, I believe that we\u2019re more than just representatives. If we were just representatives, we would just go back to our constituents and bring their ideas here. We are stewards of this institution, which is why we take an oath to the Constitution. If you take seriously your role as a steward of this institution, vote to table every one of these obnoxious motions to censure.\u2019<\/p>\n
Fox News\u2019 Chad Pergram and Daniel Scully contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/p>\n