President Donald Trump has called out Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) for her recent comments about the Holocaust, accusing the congresswoman of “hatred of Israel and the Jewish people.”
“Democrat Rep. Tlaib is being slammed for her horrible and highly insensitive statement on the Holocaust. She obviously has tremendous hatred of Israel and the Jewish people. Can you imagine what would happen if I ever said what she said, and says?” Trump said on Twitter on May 13.
“There’s always kind of a calming feeling I tell folks when I think of the Holocaust, and the tragedy of the Holocaust, and the fact that it was my ancestors—Palestinians—who lost their land and some lost their lives, their livelihood, their human dignity, their existence in many ways, have been wiped out, and some people’s passports,” Tlaib said.
“And just all of it was in the name of trying to create a safe haven for Jews, post-the Holocaust, post-the tragedy and the horrific persecution of Jews across the world at that time. And I love the fact that it was my ancestors that provided that, right, in many ways. But they did it in a way that took their human dignity away and it was forced on them,” she added.
The president is among the many Republican lawmakers who have condemned the Michigan congresswoman for her comments and her version of what happened during the Holocaust. Many of them have called for Democratic leadership to “take action” against Tlaib for her comments.
“Unfortunately, this is far from the first display of heinous anti-Semitic comments coming from Democrat House members this year, and it’s clear this is now the norm for their caucus,” Scalise added. “It’s long past time for Speaker Pelosi to take swift action and make it clear that these vile comments have no place in Congress.”
House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said that Democratic leaders should weigh in.
Tlaib has responded to the criticism on Twitter and in a statement through her representative.
“Policing my words, twisting & turning them to ignite vile attacks on me will not work. All of you who are trying to silence me will fail miserably,” she said. “I will never allow you to take my words out of context to push your racist and hateful agenda. The truth will always win.”
“When will the world stop dehumanizing our Palestinian people who just want to be free? Headlines like this & framing it in this way just feeds into the continued lack of responsibility on Israel who unjustly oppress & target Palestinian children and families,” Tlaib wrote. She shared a missive by activist Yousef Munayyer, who criticized the headline of a New York Times story that read “Gaza Militants Fire 250 Rockets, and Israel Responds with Airstrikes.”
