Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., accused the New York Times of “dehumanizing” Palestinians after the Times released a story with a headline recounting the most recent exchange of attacks between Israel and Palestinians.
“When will the world stop dehumanizing our Palestinian people who just want to be free?” Tlaib tweeted. “Headlines like this & framing it in this way just feeds into the continued lack of responsibility on Israel who unjustly oppress & target Palestinian children and families. #FreePalestine.”
When will the world stop dehumanizing our Palestinian people who just want to be free? Headlines like this & framing it in this way just feeds into the continued lack of responsibility on Israel who unjustly oppress & target Palestinian children and families. #FreePalestine https://t.co/p3X3j8WtwM
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) May 5, 2019
The article drawing criticism from Tlaib was posted Saturday, noting in the first two paragraphs that eight Palestinians, including a “militant” and a pregnant mother with her daughter, had been killed between Friday and Saturday by Israeli fire. In response to Friday’s violence, Palestinians fired a large salvo of rockets toward Israel. The Israel Defense Forces says many were intercepted by the country’s “Iron Dome” defense system, but shared videos online of stray rockets hitting cars. As of reporting, Israel Defense Forces said the number of rockets fired at Israel had exceeded 600.
Dramatic scene on the streets of Ashdod, an Israeli port city, as a car goes up in flames following a direct hit from a rocket fired from #Gaza. pic.twitter.com/i32ozYHzae
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 5, 2019
Israel has since denied that the pregnant mother and her daughter were killed by Israeli attacks, blaming terrorist “propaganda” and saying the two were killed by a Gaza misfire instead.
The Israel Defense Forces also shared videos of its work against Hamas, the anti-Israel terrorist organization, including the removal of a Hamas cyber warfare headquarters and the bombing death of a Hamas financier, who was killed in a vehicle explosion while traveling down a road.
PRECISION STRIKE: Earlier today, we targeted Hamed Ahmed Khudari in Gaza. He was responsible for transferring Iranian money to Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The funds were used to build the hundreds of rockets recently fired at Israel. Iran will need to find a new money man in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/2mv1oXLaB7
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 5, 2019
Freshman congresswoman Tlaib has been a staunch critic of Israel policies, going so far as to have a map in her office where Israel is covered with a sticky note that says “Palestine.” She’s been a proponent of BDS movements in the country, pushing for more entities to divest from Israel to try to force peace.
Several media members, including from Jewish outlets, called Tlaib out on Twitter for blaming Israel for hundreds of rockets being shot at them, claiming she was justifying the violence against Israel.
“Holy s**t!! @RashidaTlaib is justifying the Hamas rocket attacks on Israel,” NewsMax’s John Cardillo tweeted. “This woman needs to resign from Congress today. @SpeakerPelosi has lost control.”
Holy s**t!!@RashidaTlaib is justifying the Hamas rocket attacks on Israel.
This woman needs to resign from Congress today. @SpeakerPelosi has lost control. https://t.co/daWgJSLzQl
— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) May 5, 2019
Tlaib has dismissed criticism of her views as anti-Semitic, claiming this was by “right-wing media” because she’s a Palestinian woman.
