Rashida Tlaib compares boycott of Israel to boycott of Nazi Germany on House floor

(Image: screenshot)

Rep. Rashida Tlaib proved her anti-Israel views once again this week when she opposed a House vote condemning the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

The Michigan Democrat took to the floor of the House Tuesday and compared the group’s boycott of Israel to the boycott of Nazi Germany.

“The right to boycott is deeply rooted in the fabric of our country,” Tlaib said. “What was the Boston Tea Party but a boycott? Where would we be now without the boycott led by the civil rights activists in the 1950s and 60s like the Montgomery bus boycott and the United Farm Workers Grape boycott?”

The Muslim congresswoman and member of the “Squad” of freshman progressive lawmakers said that as the “daughter of Palestinian immigrants,” she opposed restrictions on the right to “boycott the racist policies of the government and state of Israel.”

“Americans boycotted Nazi Germany in response to dehumanization, imprisonment, and genocide of Jewish people,” she said.

“In the 1980s, many of us in this very body boycotted South African goods in the fight against apartheid. Our right to free speech is being threatened with this resolution,” she added. “It sets a dangerous precedent because it attempts to delegitimize a certain people’s political speech and to send a message that our government can and will take action against speech it doesn’t like.”

“I can’t stand by and watch this attack on our freedom of speech,” she said, echoing the scant few others who opposed the bill which passed by an overwhelming bi-partisan vote of 398-17.

Along with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Tlaib voted against H.Res.246 , which ultimately provided a symbolic rebuke of those singling out and condemning Israel. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., the fourth member of the so-called “Squad” did not join them but voted instead to approve the measure.

Days before the House vote, Omar had introduced her own resolution that did not specifically mention Israel and did not openly call for supporting BDS, but used the Nazi Germany comparison to make the same points.

“Whereas Americans of conscience have a proud history of participating in boycotts to advocate for human rights abroad, including … boycotting Nazi Germany from March 1933 to October 1941 in response to the dehumanization of the Jewish people in the lead-up to the Holocaust,” the resolution said.

Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin, who is Jewish, slammed Omar’s speech on the House floor, calling out the Palestinian-led BDS campaign linked to the terrorist group Hamas.

Tlaib’s remarks have frequently ignited controversy as well, as was the case in May when she was slammed for saying in an interview that she gets “kind of a calming feeling” when thinking about the Holocaust because, in its wake, the Palestinians helped create “a safe haven for Jews.”

President Trump, who was called a “motherf–ker” by Tlaib in her first week in office, called out the Muslim lawmaker as a “crazed lunatic” during a speech at Turning Point USA’s Student Action Summit.

Tlaib and Omar are planning a visit to Israel in several weeks and a former Israeli Ambassador to the United States believes the “racist and anti-Semitic” Democrat congresswomen should not be allowed entry into the country.

“Every Democratic country has the right to deny entry by those who seek to destroy it,” Daniel Ayalon told Fox Business Network last week. “Surely these two members of Congress show that they hate Israel, that they hate Jews – which makes them racists and anti-Semitic.”

But the country’s current ambassador to the U.S. said last week that Israel would not block the lawmakers from entering “out of respect,” Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.

“Out of respect for the U.S. Congress and the great alliance between Israel and America, we would not deny entry to any member of Congress into Israel,” Ambassador Ron Dermer said.

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