Rashida Tlaib Comments on Pro-Palestine Student Arrests Spark Controversy

Story by Khaleda Rahman  

Newsweek  23/09/24

Tlaib Shames Congress For Being 'Silent' On Gaza Deaths

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Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib's comments about charges filed against people who took part in a pro-Palestinian demonstration have sparked controversy online, with some accusing her of antisemitism and others saying she was being smeared.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who is Jewish, recently announced charges against 11 people over their involvement in a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Michigan. Most were students and alumni charged for refusing to vacate the campus encampment in May, the Detroit Metro Times reported.

Outrage over Israel's ongoing war in Gaza sparked protests on college campuses across the country in the spring, with students setting up encampments to call on their schools to cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies they say are enabling the war. Universities cracked down, and thousands were arrested nationwide. More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's offensive, launched after Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7 that killed about 1,200 people and saw about 250 others taken hostage.

Tlaib—the only Palestinian American in Congress and a vocal critic of Israel—slammed Nessel's decision to pursue charges against the protesters in an interview with the Metro Times earlier this month.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) speaks during a press conference with students from the Gaza solidarity encampment at George Washington University, Washington, DC, May 8, 2024. Her comments criticizing the Michigan Attorney General for pursuing charges against student protesters have sparked controversy. Allison Bailey/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images© Allison Bailey/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

She said the move was "going to set a precedent, and it's unfortunate that a Democrat made that move."

Tlaib said: "We've had the right to dissent, the right to protest. We've done it for climate, the immigrant rights movement, for Black lives, and even around issues of injustice among water shutoffs. But it seems that the attorney general decided if the issue was Palestine, she was going to treat it differently, and that alone speaks volumes about possible biases within the agency she runs."


Nessel had defended the decision to charge the protesters, saying that "conviction in your ideals is not an excuse for violations of the law" and that "what is a crime anywhere else in the city remains a crime on university property."

She responded to Tlaib's comments to the newspaper on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) on Friday, characterizing them as antisemitic.

In the post, she also criticized a Detroit News cartoon that showed Tlaib next to an exploding pager as Islamophobic.

"Rashida's religion should not be used in a cartoon to imply that she's a terrorist. It's Islamophobic and wrong," Nessel wrote. "Just as Rashida should not use my religion to imply I cannot perform my job fairly as Attorney General. It's anti-Semitic and wrong."

Newsweek has contacted Tlaib and Nessel for further comment via email.

Josh Kraushaar, the editor-in-chief of Jewish Insider, alleged in a piece on Sunday that Tlaib had "claimed that Nessel is only charging the protesters because she's Jewish" and that Nessel had "publicly decried the congresswoman's characterization as antisemitic and wrong."

Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, later hit out at Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for declining to weigh in on the matter.

"When a congresswoman accuses the attorney general of prosecuting protestors simply because she's Jewish, it's bias," Greenblatt wrote on X. "Saying you want to 'make sure that students are safe on our campuses' is just words if you are not willing to use your bully pulpit to speak out unequivocally on antisemitism and support holding people accountable for violating the law when it affects Jews."

Whitmer, a Democrat, said she was "not going to get into the middle of this argument" when asked about it during an appearance on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday.

"I can just say this: You know, we do want to make sure that students are safe on our campuses, and we recognize that every person has the right to make their statement about how they feel about an issue, a right to speak out. And I'm going to use every lever of mine to ensure that both are true," she said.

Others on social media said that Tlaib had made no mention of Nessel's religion in her comments and that there was a smear campaign against the congresswoman.

"Why are you smearing Rashida Tlaib with an outright lie? She made no mention of anyone being Jewish," Katie Halper, a political commentator who is Jewish, wrote on X, in response to a post from Kraushaar.

"This is libelous but you're desperate because you can't criticize her without misrepresenting her as an antisemite. So disgusting."

Jon Rainwater, the executive director of Peace Action, wrote: "Greenblatt is blatantly lying w/ this antisemitism smear against Rep. Tlaib & Gov. Whitmer. He, AG Nessel, & Jewish Insider are spreading misinfo. Tlaib asked whether the AG's office was biased against protesters."

Some of the protesters "are no doubt Jewish," Rainwater wrote. "Many institutions inc. @ADL ARE biased."

Journalist Mehdi Hasan wrote: "There is a coordinated smear campaign going on against Rep. @RashidaTlaib. Again."

Michigan AG Dana Nessel: Rashida Tlaib’s criticism is ‘antisemitic’

Tlaib accused Nessel of prosecuting pro-Palestinian protesters because of “possible biases.”

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel speaks on stage during the third day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center, Chicago, Aug. 21, 2024. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

By Ron Kampeas September 23, 2024 

Michigan’s Jewish attorney general has accused the state’s Palestinian-American congresswoman of antisemitism, in a war of words between two prominent Democrats that could upend an already tense battleground state.

The exchange between Attorney General Dana Nessel and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, formerly friends, stems from Nessel’s decision to file charges this month against 11 pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Michigan. In a Sept. 12 statement, Nessel emphasized the right to free speech but accused the 11 protesters at the university’s encampment last spring of “violent and criminal behavior,” including obstructing police and trespassing.

In an interview with a local paper the following day, Tlaib likened the campus protests to other demonstrations against racism and for immigrant rights. She told the Detroit Metro Times that Nessel chose to prosecute the 11 because of “possible biases.”

“It seems that the attorney general decided if the issue was Palestine, she was going to treat it differently, and that alone speaks volumes about possible biases within the agency she runs,” she said.

Nessel’s office confirmed to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that she took that remark as a reference to her Jewish identity. In a social media post on Friday, she condemned a political cartoon that suggested Tlaib was affiliated with Hezbollah — and also called out the congresswoman for antisemitism.

The Detroit News cartoon depicted Tlaib looking at a smoking device on her desk, and saying “Odd, my pager exploded,” a reference to last week’s attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“Rashida’s religion should not be used in a cartoon to imply that she’s a terrorist. It’s Islamophobic and wrong,” Nessel said on X. “Just as Rashida should not use my religion to imply I cannot perform my job fairly as Attorney General. It’s antisemitic and wrong.”

Tlaib’s office did not reply to a request for comment. But her defenders have cast doubt on the idea that she was commenting on Nessel’s identity.

“This is just a lie,” tweeted Dylan Williams, vice president for governmental affairs at the Center for International Policy, a progressive think tank. “Falsely accusing a Congresswoman who is a frequent target of bigotry of doing something she didn’t isn’t just defamatory — it risks inciting more hatred and even violence against her.”

The public spat between the two officials comes as the state’s top Democrats are seeking to tamp down debate over Israel and Gaza as a tight presidential and Senate election near. Democrats are relying on Michigan’s large Jewish and Arab populations if they are to win.

On Sunday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer did not answer directly when CNN anchor Jake Tapper asked her if Tlaib’s statement was antisemitic.

“I’m not going to get in the middle of this argument that they’re having,” she said. “I can just say this. We do want to make sure that students are safe on our campuses, and we recognize that every person has the right to make their statement about how they feel about an issue, a right to speak out, and I’m going to use every lever of mine to ensure that both are true.”

The Tlaib cartoon, which also appeared in the National Review Online, has drawn broader condemnation, including from Rep. Elissa Slotkin, the Jewish Democratic nominee for Michigan’s Senate seat. She called the cartoon “Islamophobic and downright dangerous” and called for its retraction. A group of Jewish House Democrats from across the country condemned the cartoon in similar terms, calling it a “toxically Islamophobic and anti-Arab affront.”

“While none of us always agrees with Representative Tlaib (just as she surely does not always agree with any of us) that is no reason to excuse this,” said the statement, issued Sunday.

The exchange is the latest stage in a souring of relations between Nessel and Tlaib, who were once allies. In 2019, Nessel came to the defense of Tlaib when the Trump administration persuaded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to block her from entering Israel and the West Bank, where Tlaib’s grandmother lives.

“As both a Jew and personal friend of Rep. Tlaib, I am outraged that she continues to face vile attacks simply for who she is and for doing her job,” Nessel said at the time. “Rashida does not judge a person based on religion, race, national origin, sexual orientation or any other classification.”

But as in so many other relationships, the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war last Oct. 7 marked a shift. In November, Nessel took Tlaib to task for defending the phrase “from the river to the sea,” which many Jews see as a call for the destruction of Israel but which Palestinians say is a call for equality.

“Rashida Tlaib, I have supported and defended you countless times, even when you have said the indefensible, because I believed you to be a good person whose heart was in the right place,” Nessel said then. “But this is so hurtful to so many. Please retract this cruel and hateful remark.”

Whitmer Refuses To Condemn Rashida Tlaib’s ‘Anti-Semitic’ Attack On Michigan’s AG


By RIGHT WING Daily Wire News•
Sep 22, 2024 DailyWire.com•

Jacek Boczarski / Anadolu via Getty Images

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer refused to back up her attorney general during an interview over the weekend when she was asked about the attorney general prosecuting far-left anti-Semitic protesters at the University of Michigan.

The Democrat governor made the remarks during a Sunday interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked by Jake Tapper about Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s (D-MI) anti-Semitic attacks on Attorney General Dana Nessel for prosecuting the students.

The 11 individuals were charged with a variety of crimes, including attempted ethnic intimidation, assaulting or obstructing a police officer, and more.

Tlaib responded by claiming that Nessel, who is Jewish, charged the students because she was biased in favor of Israel. “It seems that the attorney general decided, if the issue was Palestine, she was going to treat it differently, and that alone speaks volumes about possible biases within the agency she runs” Tlaib claimed.

Nessel responded: “Rashida Tlaib should not use my religion to imply I cannot perform my job fairly as attorney general. It’s antisemitic and wrong.”

Whitmer refused to condemn Tlaib’s anti-Semitic remarks against Nessel and refused to take sides on the matter at all, saying that she only wants to “make sure that both these communities are protected and respected under the law in Michigan.”

Tapper pressed Whitmer again, noting that Tlaib’s accusation was serious and again gave Whitmer the opportunity to back up her attorney general.

“Like I said, Jake, I’m not going to get in the middle of this argument that they’re having,” Whitmer responded.