Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) on Wednesday tweeted a picture of herself standing next to a Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) flag in her office.
The congresswoman, who is of Palestinian Arab descent and is notorious for her anti-Israel statements, took advantage of the opportunity to criticize Israel.
“Palestinians may be banned from flying their flag under an apartheid government, but we can still proudly do it at my office. I’m proud to be a Palestinian American and I want the Palestinian people to know that not all Americans support apartheid. No one can erase our existence,” she wrote in the tweet.
The picture and the comments caused a firestorm on Twitter, with several users calling Tlaib out.
“Your Jew hatred, lies and incitement knows no bounds,” replied Arsen Ostrovsky, International Human Rights Lawyer and CEO at the International Legal Forum.
Also responding was former New York Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who now heads the Americans Against Antisemitism organization.
“How many Arabs live in Israel? How many Jews live in Ramallah? Nablus? Jericho?!” he asked.
“You’re right, most Americans DO NOT support PALESTINIAN APARTHEID in the West Bank & Gaza where not a single Jew lives! Wave an Israeli flag in Jenin and you’ll see what real apartheid looks like!” added Hikind.
Another user, Florian Seroussi, pointed out to Tlaib, “Israeli and American flags are being burnt in Gaza day in and day out. What have you said about it during all those years? Suddenly a flag means something to you?”
Tlaib is a member of “The Squad”, a group of Democratic lawmakers from the US House of Representatives who are notorious for their criticism of Israel.
Tlaib claimed in an interview in 2019 that Palestinian Arabs living in the British Mandate prior to the establishment of the State of Israel “provided” a safe haven to Jews after the Holocaust.
In addition, when asked in a past television interview whether she would vote against military aid to Israel when she goes to Congress, Tlaib replied, “Absolutely.”
Later, Tlaib tweeted an acknowledgement of Nakba Day, a day commemorated by Palestinian Arabs to mark what they call the “catastrophe” of the establishment of the State of Israel.
In the summer of 2019, Israel announced it would bar entry to Tlaib and fellow Muslim congresswoman and Squad member Ilhan Omar over their support for BDS.
More recently, Tlaib blamed Israel for the death of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh, who was killed during a firefight between IDF forces and Arab terrorists in Jenin, before there was any probe to clarify whether Abu Aqleh was killed from IDF fire or from terrorist fire.