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The US House of Representatives voted 234-188 to censure Rashida Tlaib for her comments about Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip against the militant Islamist group Hamas.
Twenty-two Democrats joined with most Republicans in the chamber to rebuke Tlaib for her rhetoric about the Israel-Hamas war.
Tlaib is the only Palestinian-American member of Congress and one of two Muslim women in the House of Representatives.
She has repeatedly condemned Hamas’s terror attack on Israel, in which militants killed 1,400 people in southern Israel and took over 240 people hostage. She has also criticized US support for the Israeli military as it retaliates with bombardments that, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, have killed over 10,000 people in Gaza and created a humanitarian crisis.
The censure cited a video Tlaib published on social media containing a pro-Palestinian rallying cry widely seen as antisemitic and calling for Israel’s eradication.
Tlaib denied this on Tuesday and said her criticism of Israel was directed at its government and not the Jewish people.
“I will not be silenced, and I will not let you distort my words,” Tlaib said.
“It is important to separate people and government,” she added. “The idea that criticizing the government of Israel is antisemitic sets a very dangerous precedent. And it’s been used to silence diverse voices speaking up for human rights across our nation.”
Censuring is a punishment one step below expulsion from the House but has no immediate consequences.
It has traditionally been used as a last resort against behavior considered egregious, but censure motions are becoming more common in the chamber.
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