House Refused to Authorize Vigil Mourning Palestinian, Israeli Deaths

• Rep. Rashida Tlaib helped organize a vigil to mourn Palestinian and Israeli deaths last week.
• They held it on the House steps — even though they hadn’t been authorized to do so.
• “There is a concerted effort to silence those speaking up for peaceful coexistence,” said Tlaib.

Last week, Democratic Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Cori Bush of Missouri organized a small vigil on the House steps to mourn both Palestinian and Israeli lives lost in the Israel-Hamas war.

But Tlaib now says that she and Bush did not receive authorization from House leadership to hold that vigil, leading her and several other progressive Democrats to proceed with the event anyway.

“Congresswoman Cori Bush and I should not have to sit on the steps with no authorization to say we’re gonna mourn all lives, both Israelis and Palestinians, no matter their faith,” Tlaib said at a press conference on Thursday.

The Speaker of the House ultimately has control over the use of space at the Capitol complex, and Democrats generally have to request permission from the speaker’s office to hold official events on the steps.

But a person familiar with the event, granted anonymity to speak candidly, specifically blamed House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ office for the lack of authorization, saying the lawmakers had been “stonewalled” because there “wasn’t bipartisan support for the vigil.”

A Jeffries spokesperson did not provide comment to Business Insider by publication time.

Speaking at a “Doctors for Ceasefire Now” press conference outside the Capitol, Tlaib — the sole Palestinian American member of Congress — denounced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “genocidal bombing campaign” and described scenes of mayhem in hospitals in Gaza.

“Thank you so much for your courage in this moment to stand on the right side of history,” said Tlaib. “We know that there is a concerted effort to silence those speaking up for peaceful coexistence and the human rights of all people. “

Reps. Tlaib and Bush declined to comment.

The November 30 vigil was attended by just six other House Democrats: Reps. Barbara Lee of California, Summer Lee of Pennsylvania, André Carson of Indiana, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Nydia Velázquez of New York, and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.

It represented a stark contrast with a bipartisan vigil on October 12 mourning the deaths of more than 1,200 Israeli civilians in the Hamas terrorist attacks. That vigil, also held on the House steps, was attended by more than 150 members of Congress.

More than 17,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed since the Israeli counteroffensive began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

The dust-up over the vigil comes amid a tense moment for Democrats, who increasingly find themselves at odds with each other over the war in Israel.

Twenty-two of Tlaib’s Democratic colleagues voted to censure her last month over her comments on Israel — even as 4 Republicans voted against it.

Progressive lawmakers have continued to call for a permanent ceasefire in the conflict, and several have voted against Republican-led pro-Israel resolutions that have come to the floor in recent weeks.

Discussions about conditioning US aid to Israel, meanwhile, have only gathered steam.

It also wouldn’t be the first time Tlaib has been spurned by leaders on Capitol Hill for activities related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In May, then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy blocked Tlaib from using the Capitol Visitor Center for an event commemorating the “Nakba,” or the mass displacement of Palestinians at the founding of the State of Israel in 1948.

That event was ultimately held in a Senate hearing room with the help of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the chairman of the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee.