Dems Quiet After Tlaib Condemns Netanyahu Supporters

Just one month after the House voted to censure "Squad" member Rep. Rashida Tlaib over her rhetoric about the Israel-Hamas war, key Democrats are remaining quiet after she condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a "genocidal maniac" and accused members of Congress of supporting a "war criminal" by meeting with him.

"Genocidal maniac. Every member of Congress who sits down with this murderer is supporting a war criminal," the Michigan Democrat wrote on her Instagram page Wednesday, where she also shared a graphic from a left-wing news outlet claiming that Netanyahu is "working to move Palestinians out of Gaza."

Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American in Congress, added that "we will never forget," and in another post included a photograph of a dead Palestinian infant and wrote that she is "so sick and tired of our country funding and supporting a genocide and war on children. Please don’t stop talking about Palestine."

Her latest comments come about a week after Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., who is Jewish, traveled to Israel where he met with Netanyahu, Israeli officials, and family members of hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza.

"Our objectives are clear: The U.S. must stand by Israel to get all the hostages home, including Americans, eliminate the terrorists, & provide much-needed humanitarian aid to innocent Palestinian civilians being used by Hamas as human shields," he wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

However, Gottheimer, who voted with 21 other Democrats to censure Tlaib in November, has not responded to her posts criticizing him and other members of Congress who have met with Netanyahu.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who in a speech on the Senate floor late last month confronted other Democrats like Tlaib over a historic increase in antisemitism after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, also has not commented on her latest statements.

In his November speech, Schumer did not mention Tlaib or anyone else by name, but warned that Americans who use slogans such as "from the river to the sea," as she did, and who equate the Hamas attack with the Israel Defense Forces' response are headed toward antisemitism.

Such rhetoric, he said at the time, "gives license to darker ideas that have always lurked below the surface of every question involving the Jewish people.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., also has not commented on Tlaib's latest statement, but said earlier this month that he's committed to the reelection of all members of the House Democratic Caucus, "from the most progressive to the most centrist, to the most moderate," The Root has reported. "That’s been my position and perspective even prior to serving in this role in the previous four years as chair of the House Democratic Caucus.”

Jeffries also told the publication that he is not concerned about the divisions in the caucus over Israel and Gaza.

"Our diversity is a strength, and our unity is our power and unity, of course, is different than unanimity," he said. "We can have those discussions, express our differences of perspective, where appropriate, but always strive to find the highest common denominator and advance the ball for the American people. In the past, that’s what we’ve been able to do as House Democrats incredibly well."

Meanwhile, there has also been no official reaction to a Christmas Day attack on the South Bronx office of Rep. Ritchie Torres, a New York Democrat who has often spoken out in support of Israel.

Torres said anti-Israel extremists threw red paint, symbolizing blood, throughout his office, including on a doll left there to symbolize Jesus as a Palestinian.

Torres this week warned on social media that the "escalation in intimidation and incitement against Members of Congress feels like it is heading in a dangerous direction," but said that "I, for one, will not be intimidated."

The congressman, though, did criticize people making comparisons between Jesus and the Palestinians but did not mention fellow New York Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who came under fire for a post she made on social media drawing comparisons to the birth of Christ with the modern-day situation in the Gaza Strip.

"It is antisemitic to compare Israelis to the Romans who murdered Jesus. Associating Jews with the murder of Jesus is antisemitism," he posted on X.