Squad Democrat to host ‘catastrophe’ Capitol event to lament Israel’s creation
Gabe Kaminsky
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A “Squad” Democratic House member is slated to host a congressional event this week with a handful of anti-Israel advocacy groups to lament the “catastrophe” of the “Zionist militias” that paved the way for Israel’s founding.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) will appear on Wednesday at the Capitol Visitor Center alongside the various organizations for an event called “Nakba,” which is a Palestinian phrase related to the purported “catastrophe” of the establishment of Israel in 1948, an event invitation shows. The event aims to “educate Members of Congress and their staff” about Nakba and will “be followed immediately afterward by dinner.”
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“This gives the optics of being federally supported, also fundraising this sick cause at a cost to all voters,” Jeffrey Berk, CEO of TruthTells, a nonprofit group that seeks to “stop the rise of antisemitic politicians,” told the Washington Examiner.
Gatherings at the visitor center can only occur when a member of Congress reserves the space, according to multiple reports. Tlaib has often come under fire for her ties to groups seeking to delegitimize the Jewish state and in April joined 18 other Democrats, as well as Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), in voting against a since-passed bipartisan resolution expressing support for the relationship between the United States and Israel.
Jewish Voice for Peace Action, which according to the Anti-Defamation League is a “radical anti-Israel activist group that advocates for a complete economic, cultural and academic boycott of the state of Israel,” is one group helping to organize the event. The advocacy nonprofit group has been slammed in the past for seemingly celebrating Palestinian terrorism and, in 2022, endorsed several lawmakers, including Tlaib and Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Cori Bush (D-MO), according to its website.
Americans for Justice in Palestine Action, another nonprofit organization helping to organize the event, has cast blame on “right-wing Zionist” entities for using their “money” to influence elections in the U.S. Emgage Action, which is also an organizer, has said Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions, a left-leaning movement trying to economically sanction Israel that has been linked to antisemitism, is a “constitutionally protected nonviolent response that seeks to end the occupation.”
“May 15th marks 75 years since the beginning of the Nakba, which means ‘catastrophe,'” the Wednesday event invitation states. “Seventy-five years ago, Zionist militias and the new Israeli military violently expelled approximately three-quarters of all Palestinians from their homes and homeland in what became the state of Israel.”
Other organizers include the Institute for Middle East Understanding, which has equated Israel to an “apartheid” state, and Democracy for the Arab World Now, a nonprofit group led by longtime anti-Israel activist Sarah Leah Whitson, former executive director of the liberal nonprofit group Human Rights Watch.
Berk added that Jewish members of Congress, including Reps. Steve Cohen (D-TN), Jerry Nadler (D-NY), and Jamie Raskin (D-MD), “should be up in arms” that a federal facility is being used for the Wednesday event.
The event comes roughly one year after Tlaib, in May 2022, sponsored a resolution with Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, and Bush, as well as Reps. Betty McCollum (D-MN), Marie Newman (D-IL), and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) commemorating Nakba and calling for a rejection of “efforts to enlist, engage, or otherwise associate the U.S. government with denial of the Nakba.”
Tlaib referred to Israel as an “apartheid state” on May 1, leading to the Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations Gilad Erdan condemning her “antisemitic lies.”
“Tlaib’s ignorance and hatred toward the Jewish people and the State of Israel know no bounds,” he said in a statement.
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Erdan added, “The facts are clear: the Arabs rejected the U.N.’s resolution to establish a Jewish state and started a war to annihilate the Jews in Israel. Since then, for the past 75 years, the Palestinians are bringing upon themselves a Nakba by continuing to incite hate and terrorism and rejecting every peace plan.”
Tlaib’s office did not return a request for comment.