MAKE FRIENDS, NOT ENEMIES
The Israel/Hamas war has people lining up against one another across the country. Include in that camp U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Dearborn, Detroit, Southfield, Franklin, Beverly Hills, Bingham Farms), who previously was known as a member of The Squad in Congress. Tlaib seems to court minefields like flies to rubbish. After the Palestinian-American congresswoman verbally attacked Israel and voted against a resolution in support of Israel, she was censured on November 7 by the House of Representatives, a rare occurrence, 234-188, which included 22 Democrats – although none of her fellow Michigan Dems. Michigan Republicans John Moolenaar (R-Caledonia); Bill Huizenga (R-Holland) and Tim Walberg (R-Tipton) all voted to censure Tlaib. This after she had already survived another censure attempt a week earlier brought by of all fellow House members, MAGA queen Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). But she couldn’t let sleeping dogs lie. On November 4, she posted a video on X saying President Joe Biden’s support of Israel would cost him the election in 2024 and of supporting “genocide of the Palestinian people,” and showed protesters in Michigan yelling, “From the river to the sea,” a known Arab slogan referring to the eradication of Jews from Israel by driving them from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. After an uproar from fellow Democrats, with many from Michigan, including U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Lansing), state Sen. Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield, Bloomfield Township, Franklin) and Attorney General Dana Nessel, all of whom are Jewish, demanding she retract her post. Slotkin, like fellow Democrats Haley Stevens (D-Oakland County), Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor) and Dan Kildee (D-Flint) opposed Tlaib’s statements but noted “we all have the right to free speech,” Slotkin said after the censure. All of Michigan’s Republican state senators have called on Tlaib to resign, an unlikely occurrence. Since the 2022 redistricting, Tlaib represents significant Jewish population in the Oakland part of her district – much to their displeasure. Several politicos on both sides of the aisle confirm that a strong Democrat is being sought to primary Tlaib in 2024, although one acknowledged that in Dearborn and Detroit, Tlaib “is beloved.” A Democratic pro-Israel group, Democratic Majority for Israel, has begun running television ads in metro Detroit denouncing Tlaib’s votes against Israel. Mark Mellman, a president of Democratic Majority for Israel, and a Democratic pollster, said, “It’s important to us for people who live in the Detroit area to understand what her positions have been and just how out of step and radical her positions have been.”
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