US Congresswoman and lawyer Rashida Tlaib is standing by her comments on Israel and the Holocaust after drawing intense criticism, accusing her detractors of purposefully “policing my words, twisting [and] turning them to ignite vile attacks”. 

During an interview with Yahoo’s Skullduggery podcast that was released on Friday, Tlaib was asked about her support for a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“There’s kind of a calming feeling, I always tell folks, when I think of the Holocaust, and the tragedy of the Holocaust,” she answered.

“….And the fact that it was my ancestors, Palestinians, who lost their land and some lost their lives, their livelihood, their human dignity. Their existence in many ways, have been wiped out, and some people’s passports.

“I mean, just all of it was in the name of trying to create a safe haven for Jews, post-the Holocaust, post-the tragedy and the horrific persecution of Jews across the world at that time, and I love the fact that it was my ancestors that provided that, right, in many ways.” 

“But they did it in a way that took their human dignity away, right, and it was forced on them. And so when I think about a one-state, I think about the fact that, why couldn’t we do it in a better way?”

During an interview with @skullduggerypod, Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib weighed in on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and said her Palestinian ancestors provided a “safe haven” for Jews following the Holocaust https://t.co/IBYHoCi7Rt pic.twitter.com/uvoQ4R6R6j

— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) May 13, 2019

The Congresswoman also stressed she wanted a place for both Jews and Palestinians. 

“I’m coming from a place of love, for equality and justice, I truly am,” the Congresswoman explained. 

“I am humbled by the fact that it was my ancestors that had to suffer for that to happen, but I will not turn my back and allow others to hijack it and say that it’s some extremist approach because they’re coming from a place of… whatever it is… of division, inequality,” Tlaib added. 

Reactions did not wait, and Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations accused Tlaib of  antisemitism and of trying to rewrite history with her comments, while President Donald Trump called Tlaib’s remarks “horrible and highly insensitive”.

Democrat Rep. Tlaib is being slammed for her horrible and highly insensitive statement on the Holocaust. She obviously has tremendous hatred of Israel and the Jewish people. Can you imagine what would happen if I ever said what she said, and says?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2019

Tlaib, responded and accused her critics of advancing a “racist and hateful agenda”.

Policing my words, twisting & turning them to ignite vile attacks on me will not work. All of you who are trying to silence me will fail miserably. I will never allow you to take my words out of context to push your racist and hateful agenda. The truth will always win.

— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) May 13, 2019

In a statement released by her team they also said, “the Congresswoman did not in any way praise the Holocaust, nor did she say the Holocaust itself brought a calming feeling to her”.

The statement added that the criticism was “dangerous, and increases hateful rhetoric from those who want to cause harm to oppressed people”.

“The Republican Party has reached a new low,” the statement added. 

Statement on lies being spread regarding Congresswoman Tlaib’s appearance on Yahoo’s SkullDuggery Podcast. pic.twitter.com/fBASeibLwV

— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) May 13, 2019

Chain of reactions

The chorus of outrage and reactions expanded in the US political scene. 

House Republican Steve Scalise also labelled her comments antisemitic saying:

“More than six million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust; there is nothing ‘calming’ about that fact,” Scalise said.

Democratic leaders rallied behind Tlaib with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer accusing Republicans of taking Tlaib’s words out of context.

Republicans’ desperate attempts to smear @RepRashida & misrepresent her comments are outrageous. President @realDonaldTrump & House GOP should apologize to Rep. Tlaib & the American people for their gross misrepresentations.

— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) May 13, 2019

The majority of criticism came from the Republicans, but there were Jewish Democrats who also expressed disagreement towards her remarks.

Former US ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro said that the “idea that [Palestinians] welcomed Jews fleeing Europe “was “strange”.

I understand Rashida Tlaib giving voice to Palestinians’ sense of loss. It’s her people &heritage. But she’s wrong about replacing Israel with 1 state, or the lack of legitimate Jewish historical ties&claims, or the strange idea that Pals welcomed Jews fleeing Europe for a haven.

— Dan Shapiro (@DanielBShapiro) May 12, 2019

Tlaib, a Democrat of Palestinian heritage, has come under fire before for her comments and position on the Israel- Palestine conflict.

Alongside Ihan Omar, Tlaib is one of the first two Muslim lawmakers in US history to sit in Congress.

She has criticised Israel and the US approach to the issue before, and has called for one state for both. 

Omar has also faced criticism from Republicans over her comments on Israel. 

Image: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Netflix

Antonio Guterres, the United Nations secretary-general, has expressed his “support and admiration” for New Zealand‘s Muslim community as he visited the two mosques where 51 worshippers were massacred in March.

Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a self-avowed white supremacist, has been charged over the attacks on the Al Noor and Linwood mosques in Christchurch, the worst-ever mass shooting in New Zealand’s modern history.

In comments made during his visit on Tuesday, Guterres called for greater efforts to “extinguish” hate speech that spreads like “wildfire” on social media and said he had ordered a UN team be established to develop a “global plan of action”.

“Hate speech is spreading and public discourse is being coarsened,” Guterres said,

“Social media is being exploited as a platform for bigotry. We must all show solidarity in response to this dangerous upsurge in hatred,” he added.

“Hate speech is spreading like wildfire in social media. We must extinguish it. There is no room for hate speech – online or offline.”

In Christchurch for this year’s Ramadan solidarity visit, I expressed my support & admiration for the Muslim community after March’s horrific mosque attacks.

Hate speech is spreading like wildfire on social media. We must extinguish it. https://t.co/bMv0Mw0jRz pic.twitter.com/ccPwPMvVP5

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) May 14, 2019

Guterres spent about 30 minutes inside the Al Noor mosque talking to Muslim leaders and survivors of the attacks.

Outside the mosque, he told reporters that like many people around the world, he had been moved by the poignant stories of compassion and grace.

“I know there are no words to relieve the hurt and sorrow and pain,” Guterres said. “But I wanted to come here personally to transmit love, support, and total and complete admiration.”

Guterres then headed to the Linwood mosque where he laid a wreath and met survivors including Abdul Aziz, who is considered a hero for chasing the gunman and throwing a credit card machine and a discarded gun at him.

Aziz said he was honoured to meet the UN chief.

“To come here and share the pain with us, it means a lot,” Aziz said.

Guterres also attended a climate alliance event while on his visit to several South Pacific countries primarily to highlight the problems of climate change. His trip comes in the run-up to the Climate Action Summit that he plans to convene in September in New York.

If Donald Trump Jr. doesn’t comply with the Senate Intelligence Committee’s subpoena, the chamber is preparing for the possibility it could vote on enforcing the order on the Senate floor, according to sources in both parties.

Republicans said privately on Monday they were eager to avoid the clash and what would surely be an ugly floor vote if Trump Jr. ignores the Senate; some hope the committee and Trump Jr. can work out a deal to avoid a floor vote on complying with the subpoena or even holding the president’s son in contempt. But the chamber has several options if it chooses to force the issue, and they could pass given that they would require only a simple majority and aren’t subject to the chamber’s supermajority requirement, according to aides in both parties.

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Contempt is one way forward. But the Senate also has a special option “as an alternative to both the inherent contempt power of each House and the criminal contempt statutes,” according to the Congressional Research Service. The Intelligence Committee and then the full Senate can take civil action to enforce a subpoena in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia or to simply ask for a declaration of the validity of the subpoena, according to CRS.

It’s a tactic aimed more at forcing compliance than punishment and has been used sparingly by the Senate, though the chamber did use the power to compel the production of documents from Backpage.com in 2016, which was accused of facilitating human trafficking. Typically civil action has been used more often for seeking documents, though in 1989 the Senate did seek civil action to compel testimony during an impeachment trial of a federal judge.

The Intelligence Committee declined to comment. It is not clear what deadline the committee has set for Trump Jr., either.

Still, Republicans aren’t eager to test the waters when it comes to Trump Jr.; a floor vote would probably be the worst case scenario for Republicans eager to avoid confrontation with the president during a tough election cycle. There’s essentially nothing more toxic than voting on enforcing a subpoena issued to the president’s son.

“Hopefully, the Senate doesn’t have to vote on a subpoena, because that would be a difficult vote for a lot of Republicans between letting a chairman run their committee the way they want to, and in this particular instance, it’s usually a bipartisan decision that a person makes,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show on Monday. “I don’t want that to happen, but I don’t want to discuss why it might happen. And hopefully, it won’t happen.”

Image: Fabian Sommer/picture alliance via Getty Image