Who is Rashida Tlaib, why was the Palestinian-American lawmaker censured?
The US House of Representatives on Tuesday voted to censure its sole Palestinian-American lawmaker, Rashida Tlaib, for her comments on the Israel-Hamas war.
The resolution, which was backed by some 22 members of her Democratic party, claimed Tlaib had been “promoting false narratives” regarding the October 7 Hamas attack inside Israel that killed more than 1,400 people. She was also accused of seeking “destruction of Israel” – a charge she rejected.
So, who is Rashida Tlaib, why exactly was she “censured”, what does that mean, and what happened in the tense meeting that culminated in a resolution being passed against her?
Why was Tlaib censured?
The rare vote found a problem with the Democrat congresswoman’s embrace of the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” – a pro-Palestine chant that has drawn scrutiny from Israel and its supporters in the West.
It claimed the slogan “is widely recognised as a genocidal call to violence to destroy the state of Israel and its people”.
Tlaib has defended the slogan saying it was an “aspirational call for freedom… and peaceful existence and not death, destruction and hate”.
During the debate she along with her progressive colleagues in the House reiterated a call for a ceasefire as the Israeli military offensive has killed over 10,000 Palestinians, many of them children, in one month.
“Palestinian people are not disposable,” an emotional Tlaib said.
Who is Rashida Tlaib?
The 47-year-old Democrat politician and lawyer is a three-term Democrat congresswoman and currently serves as the representative for Michigan’s 12th congressional district.
She is the first woman of Palestinian descent in Congress and, alongside Ilhan Oman, one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress.
Tlaib and Omar are a member of “The Squad”, an informal group of progressive members of Congress that includes Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez among others.
She was born in Detroit to working-class Palestinian immigrants and still has family in the West Bank occupied by Israel.
What does it mean to be censured?
Passing a censure resolution against a member of Congress is a serious form of formal public admonishment that is seen as a punishment of last resort and is one step below expulsion. But it has been recently used with more frequency and in partisan ways.
Tlaib had avoided censure in another resolution last week filed by Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, who had accused her of “leading an insurrection” on Capitol Hill for speaking at a pro-Palestinian rally.
The 47-year-old lawmaker became the second member of the body to be censured this year, after Adam Schiff from the Democrat party, who in June had a resolution passed against him over Republican grievances for his handling of the Trump-Russia investigation.
Historically speaking, a censure is a rare move, with Congress only having censured 25 members before Tlaib during its entire history.
The first censure dates back to 1832 when a congressman was censured over insulting the speaker during a floor debate.
