- Rashida Tlaib, the sole Palestinian American in Congress, was censured for her rhetoric on Israel.
- It came after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tried to censure her last week — and failed.
- 22 Democrats voted for a more narrow resolution proposed by a different House Republican.
Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan was censured by the House of Representatives on Tuesday evening for comments she’s made about Israel in the month since the October 7 Hamas attack.
22 House Democrats voted with the vast majority of Republicans to support a censure resolution put forward by Rep. Rich McCormick of Georgia condemning Tlaib.
4 Republicans voted against it, largely on free speech grounds, while 3 Democrats and 1 Republican voted present.
Tlaib argued in a floor speech earlier on Tuesday that Republicans were attempting to silence her and dehumanize Palestinians, and fellow Democrats also argued that the congresswoman had a right to free speech.
“It’s a shame my colleagues are more focused on silencing me than they are on saving lives, as the death toll in Gaza surpasses 10,000,” wrote Tlaib in a statement on the censure effort. “Many of them have shown me that Palestinian lives simply do not matter to them, but I still do not police their rhetoric or actions.”
Last week, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene forced a vote on a censure resolution accusing Tlaib of “leading an insurrection” on Capitol Hill because she spoke at a pro-Palestinian protest on Capitol Hill on October 18.
That effort failed after 23 Republicans voted to table that resolution, and McCormick was among those who voted against it. So this week, he introduced a resolution that was more narrowly tailored toward Tlaib’s comments.
Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
McCormick’s resolution focused on three aspects of Tlaib’s rhetoric:
- Her use of the word “resistance” in her statement on the Hamas attack, where she argued that the “suffocating, dehumanizing conditions” in the Palestinian territories could “lead to resistance.”
- Her claim that Israel bombed a hospital in Gaza, despite contradictory evidence. She later acknowledged that the Gaza Health Ministry’s claims were in doubt and called for an independent investigation.
- Her use of the slogan “from the river to the sea,” a slogan that many view as antisemitic but is viewed as a call for freedom and equality by many Palestinians.
Tlaib is the second member of Congress to be censured this year after Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California was censured in June over Republican grievances for his handling of the Trump-Russia investigation.
Overall, she’s the 26th member of Congress in American history to be censured.
This story will be updated with a full list of Democrats who voted to censure Tlaib and Republicans who voted against censuring Tlaib as soon as the tally becomes available.
