Senator Bernie Sanders
Senator Bernie SandersReuters

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) enabled a previously canceled “Nakba Day” event hosted Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) along with anti-Israel organizations to take place after it was blocked from occurring by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

McCarthy tweeted earlier in the week that “this event in the US Capitol is canceled. Instead, I will host a bipartisan discussion to honor the 75th anniversary of the US-Israel relationship.”

But McCarthy does not have jurisdiction over the Senate, allowing for Sanders to offer the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) hearing room in a Senate office building for Tlaib to hold the event, according to Capitol Hill reporter Marc Rod, who posted photos of the room packed with people.

“Tlaib’s ‘Nakba Day’ event is back on in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Hearing Room in a Senate office building. McCarthy does not have jurisdiction on the Senate side. Committee is chaired by Sen. Bernie Sanders,” Rod tweeted.

“HELP hearing room is packed to the gills for the “Nakba Day” event,” he added.

According to Rod, Tlaib was the only rep. scheduled to speak at the event but fellow Squad member Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) was in attendance.

“Tlaib speaking now: accuses Israeli police of a ‘sustained campaign of terror’ at the Temple Mount and says Israel is an ‘apartheid state’ and that US aid supports ‘ethnic cleansing,’” Rod tweeted.

“Tlaib appears to confirm Sanders is sponsoring this,” he said in a separate tweet.

The event was denounced by human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky, who tweeted: “Hardy surprising. After Speaker McCarthy canceled Rashida Tlaib's 'Nakba Day' event in the House, Bernie Sanders comes to the rescue and hosts her in the Senate. And this as #IsraelUnderFire from Islamic Jihad rocket bombardment. Sanders is a disgrace and a Jew-hating enabler!”

McCarthy’s original cancellation of the meeting was praised by the Zionist Organization of America on Wednesday, which noted that Tlaib’s “Nakba 75” event was organized by a “who’s who” of the “worst antisemitic anti-Israel organizations that specialize in boycotting and libeling Jews and Israel, and engage in activities to destroy the Jewish state.”

The planned event had been brought to McCarthy's attention by the Coalition of Jewish Values (CJV), the largest rabbinic public policy organization in the USA of over 2000 Orthodox rabbis, whose strongly worded letter to the Speaker explained that what the Arabs call 'nakba' or 'catastrophe' is really their regret that "they fell 99% short of their genocidal goal, murdering 6,000 [Israeli] people, one-third of whom were civilians.."