Rep. Tlaib Faces Censure Demand After Supporting Pro-Palestine Protest at Capitol Hill

Capitol Police officers detain protesters as they hold a demonstration in support of a cease fire against the Palestinians in Gaza in the Cannon House Office Building on in Washington on Oct. 18, 2023. Alex Wong/Getty Images

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) called for Congress to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) on Oct. 18, calling the Michigan Democrat a “terrorist sympathizer” after she participated in a protest at Capital Hill.

“Today [Tlaib] followed Hezbollah’s orders for a ‘day of unprecedented anger.’ She organized the occupation of the Cannon office building with radical Global Intifada group and anti-Israel activists JVP,” Ms. Greene posted on X, formerly Twitter. “Tlaib is a terrorist sympathizer and does not belong in congress!”

Ms. Greene further announced that she planned to introduce a censure resolution against Ms. Tlaib, saying “After what she did today, I expect even Democrats will join in. She is an Israel hating America hating woman who does not represent anything America stands for.”

Hamas accused Israel of an airstrike on a hospital in Gaza, earlier this week. The Israel Defense Forces have denied hitting the hospital,  and the White House confirmed that its assessment showed Israel wasn’t to blame for the attack. This came after Hamas terrorists massacred Israeli civilians earlier this month.

However, a large group of demonstrators demanding an Israeli cease-fire entered the Cannon House office building in the afternoon of Oct. 18, resulting in several arrests, according to Capitol police.

Demonstrators are detained by U.S. Capitol Police after they staged a sit-in inside the Cannon House Office Building to demand a cease-fire against Palestinians in Gaza on Independence Avenue near the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Oct. 18, 2023. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Protesters gathered outside the Capitol around midday, demanding that Congress do something to end the fighting between Israel and Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip.

Before the protesters entered the Capitol, Ms. Tlaib and Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) addressed the gathering and urged President Joe Biden to work on an immediate ceasefire.

Demonstrators rally to demand a cease-fire against Palestinians in Gaza on Independence Avenue near the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Oct. 18, 2023. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Ms. Tlaib is of Palestinian descent and an outspoken advocate for statehood for their territories. The Michigan Democrat attended the event and posted an image of herself with protesters outside. It is unknown whether she entered the Cannon building with the protesters.

“I wish all the Palestinian people would see this. I wish they could see that not all of America want them to die. That they are not disposable, that they have a right to live,” said Ms. Tlaib, the only current Palestinian-American member of Congress.

Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) speaks during a House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing on gun violence in Washington on June 8, 2022. Andrew Harnik/Pool/Getty Images

Videos taken by Epoch Times reporters inside the Cannon building on Capitol Hill show protesters chanting, “Cease fire now!”

Ms. Greene is also “formally requesting” that Capitol police save security footage and arrest records from the House demonstration demanding a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, and compared the protest to the breach on Jan. 6.

Ms. Greene shared a copy of the letter she sent to U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger on X, requesting that his department “preserve all video surveillance footage, photographic evidence, police reports, and arrests records from all House Office Buildings on October 18, 2023.”

“The group that organized the insurrection, Jewish Voice for Peace, is a pro-Islamic anti-Semitic group that seeks the destruction of the state of Israel, according to the Anti-Defamation League,” the letter says.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) participates in a meeting of the House Oversight and Reform Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington on Jan. 31, 2023. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Ms. Greene’s description of the protest as an “insurrection” echoes the language used by a House committee on Jan. 6 to describe the disturbance at the Capitol in 2021, which occurred as Congress was certifying President Biden’s victory over former President Trump.

“These actors caused elevators to be shut down, staircases and hallways to be blocked, exits to be made inaccessible, and official legislative business to be obstructed, putting Members of Congress, their staffs, and Capitol visitors at risk,” Ms. Greene said of the demonstration.

Ms. Greene also stated that the Committee on House Administration “must investigate this incident and review all footage and evidence provided by Capitol Police, and the insurrectionists involved must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Representatives for Capitol Police did not immediately respond to The Epoch Times’s request for comment.