Rashida Tlaib pressed to explain 'from the river to the sea' phrasing after House votes to censure her

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Rashida Tlaib pressed on use of 'from the river to the sea' phrase after House votes to censure her

Rep. Rashida Tlaib was pressed her use of the "from the river to the sea" phrase on Wednesday after the House voted to censure her.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., was asked to explain her use of the phrase, "from the river to the sea," during an interview on MSNBC after the House voted to censure the "Squad" member on Tuesday.

MSNBC host Chris Hayes, after declaring the House's vote to censure her a "ludicrous distraction," asked Tlaib about why she decided to use the phrase, "from the river to the sea," in an ad. 

"I want to talk about this phrase. Obviously, this was a phrase that I think really caught some folks, Jewish Americans, supporters of Israel, different folks. It reads differently to different people, from the river to the sea. The contention is that this is a call for a kind of anti-colonial expulsion, right? Similar to like Algeria kicking out the French, right? Like get out of here, go back to wherever you came from. This is how it is heard, I think, to a lot of Jewish ears. And so I want you to explain what you mean by it, and why you used it, or why you included it in the video," Hayes asked. 

"I'm asking my colleagues, don't distort the words of my residents," she said. 

Rep. Rashida Tlaib was pressed by MSNBC's Chris Hayes about her decision to use the phrase, "from the river to the sea," in an ad about the Israel-Hamas conflict.  (Screenshot/MSNBC/AllIn)

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Tlaib argued that the Palestinian movement has always centered around coexistence and called out Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for pushing extremism and "inequality."

"So, for many of my colleagues, they know, deep in their hearts, where my heart is, and many of the folks, including the American Jewish community that is out there demanding, again, the call again, against this notion that we cannot all live together. So, I think again, this is just a moment right now that folks want to use, a specific moment to silence the majority of Americans that are calling for a ceasefire, to silence this movement around actual peaceful coexistence," she said. 

Hayes responded and said that those who support Israel's existence as a Jewish state were not going to like her position. 

"Just to be clear here, when you talk about peaceful coexistence, you imagine a pluralistic democratic state in the full land from the river to the sea, people call it the one-state solution. But that would be, fundamentally, the people that adhere to Zionism and think Israel should exist as a Jewish state, they are just not going to like that. I just want to clarify what the actual positions are," he said. 

FILE - Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., speaks during a demonstration calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, Oct. 18, 2023, near the Capitol in Washington. On Monday, Nov. 6. (AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades, File)

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The far-left congresswoman said again that she was calling for peaceful coexistence.

"You know, this is what I have to continue to speak truth to power on. I’m not going to allow folks to distort or try to silence, or again, try to make out that my residents are calling for something anything, anything but the end to the violence," she said. 

Tlaib posted to social media on Friday and said the phrase that she had previously used in a video was about "peaceful coexistence."

"From the river to the sea is an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate. My work and advocacy is always centered in justice and dignity for all people no matter faith or ethnicity," she wrote on X.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., was censured by the House of Representatives on Tuesday by a vote of 234 to 188. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

The House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to censure Tlaib over the use of the phrase in a 234 - 188 vote.

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. 

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Fox News' Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.