Representative Rashida Tlaib is facing calls to be expelled from Congress after she criticized President Joe Biden and blamed Israel for a blast at a hospital in the besieged Gaza Strip that killed hundreds of Palestinians.
Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American member of Congress, has long been a vocal critic of Israel's treatment of Palestinians.
The Michigan Democrat faced calls to be primaried after she called on the U.S. to stop funding the Israeli "apartheid" government after Hamas launched a deadly attack on Israel on October 7 that prompted Israel to completely seal off and launch airstrikes on the long-blockaded Gaza Strip, a small territory of about 2.3 million Palestinians.
The Gaza Health Ministry said Israeli air strikes had killed at least 2,278 Palestinians in Gaza, before the explosion at the al-Ahli hospital killed at least another 500, the Associated Press reported. More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed, most of them civilians in Hamas' October 7 attack, while some 200 others were taken captive into Gaza, AP reported.
On Tuesday, Tlaib again took to social media to criticize Biden for backing Israel in its war against Hamas after hundreds of Palestinians were killed in an explosion at the Gaza City hospital.
"Israel just bombed the Baptist Hospital killing 500 Palestinians [doctors, children, patients] just like that," Tlaib wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Addressing the president, she wrote that "this is what happens when you refuse to facilitate a ceasefire & help de-escalate. Your war and destruction only approach has opened my eyes and many Palestinian Americans and Muslim Americans like me. We will remember where you stood."
Newsweek has reached out to Tlaib's office and the White House via email for comment.
Tlaib's remarks prompted Gunther Eagleman, a right-wing political commentator, to call Tlaib "the enemy within." She "should be removed from Congress," Eagleman wrote in a post on X.
Ryan Fournier, the founder of Students for Trump, wrote in a post that Tlaib "made some nasty comments."
"I fully support her expulsion from Congress. Do you?" Fournier wrote.
Others called on Tlaib to take down and retract her post, noting that both sides are denying responsibility for the blast at the hospital.
Hamas blamed an Israeli airstrike for the blast, while the Israeli military said it was caused by a rocket misfired by other Palestinian militants. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad group denied Israel's claim that it was behind the blast, accusing Israel of "trying hard to evade responsibility for the brutal massacre it committed," AP reported.
Tlaib has not taken down her post but has since shared a link to an article that details the "six biggest lies" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the U.S. and the world.
She also shared a post from journalist Mehdi Hasan that noted Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari's recent comment that "the emphasis is on damage and not on accuracy" and another from Yousef Munayyer that noted Israel's initial response after the killing of veteran Palestinian-Anerican journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was to blame Palestinian gunmen. The IDF later admitted that Akleh was likely killed by Israeli fire.
"This is part of a consistent Israeli military information damage control strategy in response to such events," Munayyer wrote.
Biden arrived in Israel on Wednesday, and reportedly told Netanyahu that "based on what I've seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you," adding that a lot of people were not sure. A meeting with Arab leaders in Jordan has been postponed following the destruction at the hospital.
In an earlier statement, Biden said he was "outraged and deeply saddened" by the explosion at the hospital, and "the terrible loss of life that resulted."
Biden said he spoke immediately after hearing the news with King Abdullah II of Jordan and Netanyahu and "directed my national security team to continue gathering information about what exactly happened."
He added: "The United States stands unequivocally for the protection of civilian life during conflict and we mourn the patients, medical staff and other innocents killed or wounded in this tragedy."
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About the writer
Khaleda Rahman is Newsweek's Senior News Reporter based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on abortion rights, race, education, ... Read more
