WASHINGTON (CN) — The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday issued a formal rebuke of Michigan Representative Rashida Tlaib, voting to censure the lawmaker over her support for Palestinians amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The lower chamber approved Georgia Republican Rich McCormick’s resolution to censure Tlaib, a Democrat and the only Palestinian-American member of Congress, on a 234-188 vote.
More than 20 Democrats broke with their caucus to vote in favor of the censure. Four Republicans voted against the resolution.
McCormick’s measure comes after an ill-fated attempt last week by fellow Georgian Marjorie Taylor Greene to censure Tlaib. Greene and other GOP lawmakers have attacked Tlaib in recent weeks for her support for Palestine.
In particular, Republicans have taken issue with Tlaib’s use of the phrase “from the river to the sea,” a historically contentious slogan that some argue is a euphemism for dismantling Israel and a call to expel the region’s Jewish population. Tlaib has defended her use of the phrase as “an aspirational call for freedom, human rights and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction or hate.”
The Michigan Democrat is an ardent supporter of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the provisional government of the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, which attacked Israel Oct. 7. Hamas forces killed more than 1,000 Israelis, largely civilians, and took hundreds of hostages during the initial incursion. Jerusalem’s ongoing counter-strike has killed thousands of Palestinian civilians.
Republicans also took aim at Tlaib over remarks she gave during an Oct. 18 pro-ceasefire demonstration on Capitol Hill, organized in part by Jewish peace activists. Greene has compared the peaceful protest to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots, which killed five people.
During floor debate Tuesday afternoon, Tlaib defended her support for Palestine, urging her colleagues — and President Biden — to recognize their suffering at the hands of the Israeli government.
“The refusal of Congress to acknowledge Palestinian lives is chipping away at my soul,” Tlaib said. “I will not be silenced, and I will not let you distort my words.”
Tlaib implored lawmakers to acknowledge Palestinians as “human beings, just like everyone else.”
“I can’t believe I have to say this, but Palestinian people are not disposable,” she said, choking back tears as Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar rose to console her.
Tlaib argued that her remarks should in no way be construed as an attack on Israelis or the Jewish people globally. “It is important to separate people and governments,” she said. “No government is beyond criticism.”
Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin defended his colleague, pointing out that Republicans’ attempt to punish Tlaib for her comments “cheapens the meaning of discipline,” and saying that lawmakers censured for political speech “will wear it as a badge of honor.”
“Now is the moment where we will get to see who in the House of Representatives believes in free speech, including the speech they disagree with,” Raskin said.
It wasn’t just Democrats that stood against Tlaib’s censure, however. Colorado Republican Ken Buck warned against the move, saying that “we lower ourselves when we try to take action against someone else for our words.”
McCormick, meanwhile, argued that his effort to censure Tlaib was not a First Amendment issue.
“Rashida Tlaib has the right to spew antisemitic vitriol and call for the destruction of the Jewish state,” he said, “but the House of Representatives also has the right to make it clear that her hate speech does not reflect the opinion of the chamber.”
McCormick suggested that there was a precedent for censuring Tlaib, pointing to Democrats’ 2021 censure of Arizona Representative Paul Gosar. Gosar was disciplined and stripped of his committee assignments for sharing a video that depicted him killing New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Tlaib is the second Democratic lawmaker to be censured in the Republican-controlled House this Congress. California Representative Adam Schiff received a similar rebuke over the summer, as the GOP accused him of misleading the public during his investigation into former President Trump’s alleged ties with Russia.
The House votes to censure members who lawmakers agree have committed some misconduct that does not warrant expulsion from the chamber. If approved, members are forced to stand in the House well while the censure resolution is read aloud.
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