Schumer and Senate Dems support Tlaib’s anti-Semitic event mourning Israel’s creation, despite McCarthy’s interference.

Senate Democrats Host Anti-Israel Event After House Leadership Blocks Tlaib

Background

Democratic congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) was blocked by House leadership from headlining an anti-Semitic gathering. However, Senate Democrats hosted her Wednesday evening to mourn Israel’s creation. The Michigan “Squad” member was given space for the event by socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), who welcomed Tlaib and a crew of anti-Israel advocacy groups to take over a Senate committee room.

Controversy

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) was silent Wednesday evening, and although a source close to him told the New York Post he was “totally unaware” that the event would be hosted on the Senate side of the Capitol, his office failed to respond to multiple Washington Free Beacon requests for comment that were sent on Monday and Wednesday informing him of Tlaib’s plans. Also unaware was Sanders’s Republican counterpart on the committee that hosted Tlaib, adding new drama to a controversy that has been brewing on the Hill since the Free Beacon first reported Monday on the event.

Response

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R., La.), the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee’s ranking member, said in a statement provided to the Free Beacon, “I wholeheartedly disapprove of the Majority permitting the use of the HELP Committee room for this divisive event. The Capitol Grounds should not be used as a pedestal to legitimize anti-Semitic bigotry.”

Sen. Rick Scott (R., Fla.) said in a statement, “It is a truly sad day for our country when Democrats so blatantly turn their backs on Jewish Americans by uniting around an antisemite who not only spreads hate but actively uses her position as a member of Congress to advance an ugly agenda with the purpose of degrading our special relationship and strong alliance with Israel.”

The Coalition for Jewish Values, an organization representing more than 2,000 rabbis, accused Schumer of not living up to his pro-Israel rhetoric. “You have often reminded the Jewish community that your last name, Schumer, comes from the Hebrew word ‘Shomer’, a watchman, and that you guard both the US-Israel relationship and American and Jewish values,” the group wrote. “Yet both the notions of bipartisan support for Israel and that hatred should not be promoted in Congress were both actively undermined on Wednesday evening, May 10, on your watch. This moment demands your response.”

The Event

The Wednesday evening event was held to honor the “Nakba,” an Arabic term that loosely translates to “catastrophe” and is used by Palestinians and anti-Israel activists to lament Israel’s creation. Joining Tlaib at the Nakba event were a host of organizations that support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, an anti-Semitic effort to wage economic war on Israel. They include Jewish Voice for Peace, a “radical anti-Israel activist group” that has come under fire for glorifying Palestinian terrorism. Other organizers include Emgage Action, which claims Israel is an “apartheid state,” and Americans for Justice in Palestine Action, an advocacy group that claims Jewish money is infecting politics.

McCarthy told the Free Beacon on Tuesday that he canceled the event because “it’s wrong for members of Congress to traffic in anti-Semitic tropes about Israel,” adding that “as long as I’m speaker, we are going to support Israel’s right to self-determination and self-defense, unequivocally and in a bipartisan fashion.”

Sen. Ted Budd (R., N.C.) told the Free Beacon, “The Democrat Majority should be ashamed of themselves for allowing our committee room to be a platform for this bigotry.”

Every Democrat must condemn Chuck Schumer’s decision to be complicit in spreading antisemitic hate.

• Use of the HELP Committee room for this divisive event is disapproved by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R., La.)
• Sen. Rick Scott (R., Fla.) calls out Democrats for turning their backs on Jewish Americans
• The Coalition for Jewish Values accuses Schumer of not living up to his pro-Israel rhetoric
• The Wednesday evening event was held to honor the “Nakba,” an Arabic term that loosely translates to “catastrophe” and is used by Palestinians and anti-Israel activists to lament Israel’s creation
• Joining Tlaib at the Nakba event were a host of organizations that support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, an anti-Semitic effort to wage economic war on Israel

Anti-Semitism has no place in our society and certainly has no place inside the U.S. Capitol.