The House of Representatives has voted to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., in a 234 \u2013 188 vote on Tuesday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The punishment, while largely symbolic, was a formal public rebuke of her most recent anti-Israel comments made in the wake of the Jewish nation\u2019s war against terror group Hamas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Twenty-two Democrats voted with 212 Republicans to censure Tlaib. Four GOP lawmakers voted against the measure. Four lawmakers voted present. The measure was introduced by freshman Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., on Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018If this is not worthy of censure, what is? When you can call for the annihilation of a country and its people, if that\u2019s not worthy of a censure, what is?\u2019 McCormick said on the House floor Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the text of his resolution, the Georgia Republican accused Tlaib of \u2018promoting false narratives regarding the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and for calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.\u2019<\/p>\n
Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress, has come under bipartisan criticism after sharing a video on social platform X that included the phrase \u2018From the river to the sea,\u2019 a pro-Palestinian liberation slogan.<\/p>\n
Her critics have pointed out that the rallying cry implicitly calls for the destruction of Israel as a state. Hamas has also co-opted the phrase.<\/p>\n
\u2018It is fundamentally a call for a Palestinian state extending from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, territory that includes the State of Israel, which would mean the dismantling of the Jewish state,\u2019 the Anti-Defamation League\u2019s website says. \u2018It is an antisemitic charge denying the Jewish right to self-determination, including through the removal of Jews from their ancestral homeland.\u2019<\/p>\n
Tlaib has remained unrepentant over her use of the phrase.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018It is important to separate people and governments,\u2019 she said on the House floor earlier in the day. \u2018The idea that criticizing the Israeli government is antisemitic sets a dangerous precedent.\u2019<\/p>\n
The House voted to advance McCormick\u2019s resolution earlier on Tuesday, when a vote to kill the measure was defeated 208 to 213, with one lawmaker voting \u2018present.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
A resolution to censure Tlaib, brought by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., failed to advance to a vote last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n