Squad Rep. Plans Anti-Semitic Event to Mourn the Founding of Israel

(Corine Gatti, Headline USA) “Squad” member Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., was expected to host an anti-Israel group that has called the 1948 establishment of the Jewish nation–state a “catastrophe” at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center on Wednesday.

The event, titled “Nakba 75 & the Palestinian People,” will mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of Israel. Nakba means “catastrophe” in Arabic.  

Descriptions of the event further espoused its anti-Semitic viewpoint.

“The new Israeli military violently expelled approximately three-quarters of all Palestinians from their homes and homeland in what became the state of Israel,” read one such description.

Organizers neglected to mention that in 1948, five Arab armies pounded Israel, with support from the Palestinian leadership.

Tlaib drew criticism last week for invoking the term “Nakba” to counter the characterization from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., of America’s “special relationship” with its longtime Middle Eastern ally. 

“Speaker McCarthy wants to rewrite history, but the apartheid state of Israel was born out of violence and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians,” Tlaib wrote in a May 1 tweet. ”75 years later, the Nakba continues to this day,” she concluded.

Speaker McCarthy wants to rewrite history but the apartheid state of Israel was born out of violence and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

75 years later, the Nakba continues to this day. https://t.co/s5P35dgqv0

— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) May 1, 2023

Any event held at the Capitol Visitor Center’s ‘s 400-seat auditorium is a privilege for members of the U.S. Congress or officers of Congress—suggesting Tlaib’s direct involvement in organizing the event.

The Michigan Democrat, a resolute supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement, was partnering with organizations that have glorified acts of violence against Israel.

The Jewish Voice for Peace, for instance, was said to have applauded the First Intifada, which claimed the lives of close to 300 Israelis. The anti-Semitic group parading at the Capitol this week was also backed by the Institute for Middle East Understanding.

That organization announced that it would be honoring Ghassan Kanafani—and it should raise eyebrows. Kanafani was responsible for the infamous 1972 Lod Airport Massacre in which 26 people, including 17 U.S. citizens, were murdered.

Liora Rez, the executive director of the nonprofit group StopAntiSemitism, condemned Tlaib for spending too much time attacking Israel instead of serving her constituents.

Rez told the New York Post on Monday she hoped Tlaib “would spend as much time helping Michigan’s 12th District as she spends demonizing the world’s only Jewish state.”

Tlaib is a “natural ally for organizations like IMEU, one of the top propagators of false anti-Israel rhetoric on social media,” Rez said in a statement to the Post.