By Bruce S. Ticker
PHILADELPHIA — “I will always speak truth to power” — Rashida Tlaib, upon her second day in “power”
Always? Was she speaking “truth” when she urged slashing military aid to Israel? “I will be using my position in Congress so that no country, not one, should be able to get aid from the U.S. when they still promote that kind of injustice,” Tlaib has said.
Or her closest partners in the 116th Congress? Ilhan Omar has dubbed Israel “an apartheid state” and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez described Israel’s fatal shootings of Gazan insurgents as a “massacre.”
No mention about Palestinian “injustices.”
At this writing, none of the three have voiced their objections to Israeli actions since they were sworn into office on Thursday (Jan. 3) as members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Ocasio-Cortez represents portions of Queens and the Bronx, which extends into Morris Park where a dwindling but active Jewish community exists. Both Muslims, Omar is from Minneapolis and Tlaib from Detroit. All three of their districts are Democratic strongholds.
Tlaib overshadowed her 234 Democratic colleagues on Thursday night when she promised that Congress will “impeach the motherf—-er.”
No argument with that, or many of the progressive initiatives that this trio advocates at high-decibel levels. Tlaib’s “impeach the…” remark sparked the anticipated rebukes from Republicans shocked – SHOCKED!!!!! – over her language.
I choked when I read her response on Friday: “I will always speak truth to power.”
Tlaib should try speaking truth to herself. As a member of Congress, she is power and she refuses to speak truth when the subject is Israel.
Someone has already stuck a sticky note that reads “Palestine” on a map in her office to cover the area that is officially Israel, and she has in the past claimed that area as “Palestine.” We can safely interpret that her goal contradicts both Democratic and Republican policy to facilitate a compromise between Israel and the Palestinians.
The only way that the Palestinians can acquire the entire land mass is through war. Does this mean that Tlaib wants a war between Israel and the Palestinians?
Tlaib, Omar and Ocasio-Cortez consistently neglect to mention that Israel proposed an independent state for Palestinians in 2000 when President Clinton convened a summit at Camp David between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Arafat rejected the offer and then initiated or facilitated a war between the two sides.
It is not an issue that they criticize Israel. There is plenty of legitimate criticism to go around that is grounded in fact. Many supporters of Israel themselves, myself included, criticize Israel when we deem it wrong. But these three House members level broad accusations which have no basis in facts. Plus, their attitudes are one-sided. They have cast Israel as the villain and the Palestinians can do no wrong.
So that earns them a label like “Palestine’s Hot A-I-R Trio,” perhaps an apt acronym for Alexandria, Ilhan and Rashida.
A-I-R is hardly alone in advocating progressive policies. So do 232 other Democrats in the House in varying degrees. It would be no loss if more credible candidates oust Alexandria, Ilhan and Rashida in the 2020 primaries.
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Ticker is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia