House votes to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib over anti-Israel comments

The House censured Rep. Rashida Tlaib for “promoting false narratives” about the war between Israel and the terrorist organization Hamas, after Democrats failed to block the resolution in a Tuesday vote.

The House voted 234-188 in favor of Rep. Rich McCormick’s censure resolution against Ms. Tlaib.

The censure cited the Michigan Democrat’s public statements and social media posts that defended Hamas and blamed Israel and the U.S. for the Oct. 7 terrorist attack that killed more than 1,400 Israelis and 29 Americans.

Twenty-two Democrats voted with the GOP and three Democrats voted “present,” while four Republicans voted against the measure and one GOP lawmaker voted present.

Lawmakers voted on the resolution Tuesday evening after Democrats failed to table the formal rebuke earlier in the day.

Mr. McCormick’s censure comes less than a week after Ms. Tlaib evaded a prior attempt at a censure measure authored by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican.

Ms. Greene on Monday reintroduced her separate censure resolution against Ms. Tlaib, albeit with some changed language.

Last week’s motion to censure Ms. Tlaib failed thanks to “no” votes by 23 Republicans, including Mr. McCormick, Georgia Republican and a member of the House ethics committee.

But since then, Ms. Tlaib has further angered both GOP and Democratic lawmakers with anti-Israel comments.

She posted a video on X over the weekend that said President Biden “supported the genocide of the Palestinian people,” and included the phrase “from the river to the sea.”

According to the McCormick resolution, the phrase “is widely recognized as a genocidal call to violence to destroy the state of Israel and its people to replace it with a Palestinian state extending from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.”

His resolution accuses Ms. Tlaib of defending the “brutal rapes, murders, beheadings, and kidnappings — including of Americans — by Hamas as justified ‘resistance’ to the ‘apartheid state’” of Israel.

“Representative Tlaib has undermined U.S. interests with her statements and must be censured,” Mr. McCormick said.

Mr. McCormick cited her Oct. 8 statement claiming that the Oct. 7 attack on the Israeli people was partly attributable to the U.S. security aid provided to Israel.

Ms. Greene’s measure last week also charged Ms. Tlaib with “antisemitic activity” and “sympathizing with terrorist organizations.”

Democrats, led by Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, said Tuesday that censuring Ms. Tlaib would amount to “the punishment of speech,” and fell outside the historic purpose of the punishment which has typically been aimed at actions of lawmakers, not words.

Ms. Tlaib defended herself on the floor earlier in the day, saying she is the only Palestinian American serving in Congress.

“My perspective is needed here now more than ever. I will not be silenced, and I will not let you distort my words,” she said.

“The idea that criticizing the government of Israel is antisemitic sets a very dangerous precedent, and it’s been used to silence diverse voices speaking up for human rights across our nation,” Ms. Tlaib said.

Censure has been a rare punishment but has recently been wielded more frequently in the increasingly fractious and partisan House.

Rep. Adam B. Schiff, California Democrat, was censured by the GOP majority earlier this year over using his previous position as intelligence committee chairman to make false claims that former President Donald Trump colluded with Russia to win the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

In 2021, Rep. Paul Gosar, Arizona Republican, was censured for posting an anime video on social media showing himself committing a violent act against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York Democrat, and President Biden.

This resolution was largely passed by Democrats, 223 to 207.

Prior to Mr. Schiff and Mr. Gosar, the last lawmaker censured by the House was Rep. Charles B. Rangel, New York Democrat, who was rebuked in a bipartisan vote in 2010 over misusing his office for personal gain.