The White House is firing back after “Squad” member and Palestine supporter Rep. Rashida Tlaib broke very clearly with the Biden Administration’s stance on the war between Hamas and Israel, coming down firmly on the side of Palestinians and ceasefire over Israel and retaliation. White House spokesperson John Kirby described Tlaib’s remarks as “irresponsible.”
As background, Rep. Tlaib recently took to X (formerly Twitter) to state her opposition to the Biden Administration’s policy in a video and series of tweets in which she claimed the American people are not with Biden on this issue.
She wrote, “.@POTUS, the majority of the American people are not with you on this one. #CeasefireNow.” Continuing, she added, “From the river to the sea is an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate. My work and advocacy is always centered in justice and dignity for all people no matter faith or ethnicity.”
From the river to the sea is an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate. My work and advocacy is always centered in justice and dignity for all people no matter faith or ethnicity.
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) November 3, 2023
Following the video, text appears on the screen and reads, “Joe Biden supported the genocide of the Palestinian people. The American people won’t forget. Biden, support a ceasefire now or don’t count on us in 2024.”
Further, in a statement on the emergency aid provided to Israel, she said, “The American people do not support funding for war crimes— like the use of white phosphorus bombs-and are calling for a ceasefire. As the Israeli government carries out ethnic cleansing in Gaza, President Biden is cheering on Netanyahu, whose own citizens are protesting his refusal to support a ceasefire. We must be laser focused on saving lives, no matter their faith or ethnicity.”
That statement continued, “The number of children killed in Gaza in just three weeks has surpassed the annual number of children killed across the world’s conflict zones since 2019-yet instead of helping end this violence, President Biden baselessly casts doubt on the Palestinian death toll. U.S. funding for the Israeli military with no humanitarian conditions will take us father away from ending the violence and reaching peace. Achieving a just and lasting peace requires lifting the blockade, ending the occupation, and dismantling the dehumanizing system of apartheid. Not only do some of my colleagues want to send more weapons to carry out war crimes and violations of international law, but they want to do it by providing tax breaks to billionaires and undermining crucial investments in our communities. Instead of funding more bombs with American taxpayer dollars, our leaders should be calling for a ceasefire now, before this violence claims thousands more lives.”
My statement on $14.3 billion in funding for Israel with absolutely no conditions on upholding human rights: pic.twitter.com/AX0hErzdpN
— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) November 2, 2023
Mr. Kirby fired back during the Monday broadcast of “Your World” on Fox News Channe. Host Neil Cavuto began the conversation on the matter, asking, “Congressman Rashida Tlaib, of course, accused the Biden administration of genocide and sort of turning the other way in the face of this,” he said. “She’s been criticized by people like Bernie Sanders and others, to be fair. But are you concerned this is leading a schism, even within the Democratic Party and among those who would normally support what the president wants to do in a foreign affairs matter?”
Beginning his response, Kirby said, “Certainly, members of Congress have got to speak for themselves and for their beliefs about this. We’re not focused here at the National Security Council about you know, the political, the domestic political situation here–”
Then, when reminded by Cavuto that Tlaib claimed the Administration is supporting “genocide,” Kirby got ore critical of Tlaib and her claims. Hitting back, he said, “Of course we’re not doing that. And what is happening in Gaza, again, as terrible as all of these civilian casualties are, we know there’s many, many thousands of them, we don’t want there to be any. I don’t want to minimize that at all. But you can’t look at what is happening in Gaza and say that it fits the definition of genocide. And clearly, we don’t agree with that description. We think that is an irresponsible way of describing this. We don’t associate ourselves with that. And that is not– in our view, that is not what is happening here.”
"*" indicates required fields