Rashida Tlaib Joins Forces With Rabbis and Jewish Activists

Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, who was recently censured by the House over her comments on Israel, joined a news conference alongside rabbis and the activist group Jewish Voices for Peace earlier this week.

On Monday, Tlaib and other House Democrats—including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Summer Lee of Pennsylvania and Cori Bush of Missouri—joined rabbis and Jewish activist groups outside the U.S. Capitol building in demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

"I stood in solidarity with Rabbis from across the country and Jewish peace advocates calling for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the violence," Tlaib wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday. "Their commitment to recognizing our shared humanity inspires me."

Newsweek contacted Tlaib's spokesperson by email for comment on Wednesday.

Calls for a ceasefire in Gaza have grown across the U.S. and the world as the situation in the region becomes ever more dire among a shortage of fuel supply and the approaching of Israeli troops. On Wednesday morning, the Israeli military said they had reached and raided the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, where they claim Hamas secretly operates.

As of Wednesday, more than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war with Israel began, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza quoted by The Associated Press. Two thirds of them were women and children. On the Israeli side, more than 1,200 people died, most of them civilians killed in the Hamas attack on October 7, according to AP's numbers.

Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress and a vocal critic of Israel's treatment of Palestinians, has been under intense scrutiny since Hamas' unprecedented attack.

While the progressive Democrat mourned the loss of life on both the Israeli and the Palestinian sides caused by the attack and the conflict, her demand for a ceasefire and an end to Israel's "apartheid"—a notion supported by United Nations investigators and several human rights groups—angered many across the political spectrum.

Earlier this month, Tlaib was censured by the House after Republican Rich McCormick of Georgia brought forward a new resolution against her over what he called her promotion of antisemitic rhetoric. A similar measure to censure Tlaib promoted by Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia had failed the previous week.

The censure doesn't mean Tlaib has to resign but acts instead as a reprimand. In response to the House's vote against her, Tlaib said: "I am the only Palestinian American serving in Congress, and my perspective is needed here now more than ever. I will not be silenced and I will not let anyone distort my words."

While President Joe Biden has failed to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, saying instead that a "humanitarian pause" is needed in the conflict to help struggling civilians, the Democrat recently said that the Al-Shifa hospital "must be protected."

Correction 11/15/23 10:17 a.m. ET: This article was updated to make clear that Tlaib has been censured but has not been stripped of her committee roles.