Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) is urging Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, also a Democrat, to prevent an Israeli defense technology company from opening a manufacturing and engineering facility in Sterling Heights, a Detroit suburb, JNS reported.
Capture Group Inc., the US arm of Israel-based Capture Systems Ltd., plans to invest at least $5 million in the Macomb County city and create at least 125 jobs during the next five years, according to Whitmer's office.
The facility is expected to manufacture counter-drone platforms, optical surveillance and mobile defense systems, while also developing, integrating and testing counter-UAS technology and remote-controlled weapon stations. The project was awarded a $936,000 performance-based grant through the Michigan Business Development Program, which is administered by the Michigan Strategic Fund. The positions are expected to pay at least $25 per hour plus benefits.
Tlaib claimed on Sunday that Michigan was providing money for “bombs that kill children" instead of supporting “small businesses, many of them black- and women-owned" that are struggling. She also accused Capture Systems of manufacturing weapons “used to commit genocide."
Calling Michigan an “anti-war and anti-genocide state," Tlaib said Capture Systems has “no place in our state and should not be receiving a dime of public funds."
State Rep. Noah Arbit, a Democrat representing Michigan's 20th District, defended the planned facility. He said the company makes “the kinds of systems that the U.S. needs to compete with China, Russia and other adversaries."
Tlaib, a member of the progressive congressional group known as "The Squad," has been a prominent critic of Israel throughout her time in Congress and has continued to attack Israel and US policy during the war against Hamas in Gaza.
After Hamas launched its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, Tlaib accused Israel of operating an alleged "apartheid system" and opposed US financial assistance to Israel, accusing Washington of providing billions "to support the apartheid government".
She has also refused to apologize for using the phrase "from the river to the sea," which she has described as a call for Palestinian Arab freedom. Critics have widely interpreted the slogan as advocating the elimination of Israel.
Tlaib has additionally faced criticism over her initial attribution of a Gaza hospital explosion to the IDF, despite subsequent findings that the explosion was caused by a rocket launched by Islamic Jihad.