Jewish Democrat sides with Republicans on Tlaib censure: 'Record needs to be corrected'
Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., joined 'America's Newsroom' to discuss why he voted to censure Tlaib as she continues to face backlash over her anti-Israel remarks.
Jewish Rep. Brad Schneider was one 22 Democrats to vote alongside Republicans to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib over her anti-Israel remarks.
Tlaib was censured in a 234 to 188 vote on Tuesday night in a formal condemnation of her anti-Israel sentiment after she posted a video on X, formerly Twitter, using the controversial pro-Palestine slogan "From the river to the sea."
"That is not coded language," Schneider told "America's Newsroom" Wednesday. "It was the chant, a rallying cry of the PLO in 1964, before Israel took control of the West Bank and Gaza. It was the rallying cry and still is today of Hamas. It's calling for the destruction of the state of Israel and the murder of Jews."
"We're elected representatives. We have an expectation to measure our words, to be considerate and to think about what we say and when we make mistakes, to stand up and correct them, and when a colleague refuses to do that and is throwing gasoline on a fire, that needs to be countered and addressed, and the record needs to be corrected," the Illinois Democrat continued.
Critics argue the chant supports the annihilation of the Jewish state, although Tlaib has pushed back on those accusations, claiming to support "peaceful coexistence" for both Israelis and Palestinians.
"'From the river to the sea' is an aspirational call for freedom, human rights and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction or hate," she wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "My work and advocacy has always centered in justice and dignity for all people no matter faith or ethnicity."
"It is an aspirational rallying cry, an aspiration for the destruction of the state of Israel," Schneider said. "
It has been that way for more than 50 years, and that's why to use it cavalierly, to put it on a video, to put it out in the world, to put it on social media, where she gets millions of people to see her interpretation. She doesn't interpret it for Hamas. Hamas says it very clearly. They want to destroy Israel and their actions back up their words."
"We saw it on October 7th, and Hamas leaders have said what they did on October 7th they would do over and over again," he continued.
Twenty-two Democrats voted with 212 Republicans to censure Tlaib. Four GOP lawmakers voted against the measure. Four lawmakers voted present. The measure was introduced by freshman Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., on Monday.
"If this is not worthy of censure, what is? When you can call for the annihilation of a country and its people, if that’s not worthy of a censure, what is?" McCormick said on the House floor Tuesday.
In the text of his resolution, the Georgia Republican accused Tlaib of "promoting false narratives regarding the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and for calling for the destruction of the state of Israel."
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"I can't believe I have to say this, but Palestinian people are not disposable," Tlaib said on the House floor after the vote. "The cries of the... Palestinian and Israeli children sound no different to me. Why? What I don't understand is why the cries of Palestinians sound different to you all."
Some colleagues came to her defense after the vote, including "Squad" member Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md.
"A rise in opposition to this censure resolution that is blatantly Islamophobic, anti-democratic, and an utter waste of time," Pressley said. "This resolution is as dishonest as it is unproductive."
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"The resolution offered against the gentlewoman from Michigan is all about... censuring her for her political speech and literally, literally nothing else," Raskin said.
Despite internal party division over the matter, Schneider said he remains hopeful they can move past their differences.
"I think everyone in Congress believes in free speech, but free speech as a representative, as an elected official, carries responsibility and it can't go without refutation. ‘From the river to the sea’ is a call for genocide and the murder of Jews," he said. "It's as simple as that."
FOX News' Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
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