Democratic Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib doubled down Monday on comments about the Holocaust that sparked backlash.
Speaking to late-night TV host Seth Meyers, Tlaib argued that she shouldn’t have to speak like a “fourth grader” to make sure that “racist idiots” understand what she means.
Fox News anchor Sandra Smith replayed Tlaib’s comments Tuesday on “America’s Newsroom.”
WATCH:
“There is something like in many ways beautiful about that my ancestors, many had died or had to give up their livelihood, human dignity, to provide a safe haven for Jews in our world,” Tlaib told Meyers. “I got a text message from a friend, who’s like, hey next time really clarify. Maybe talk like a fourth grader because maybe the racist idiots would understand you better.”
Republican Tennessee Rep. David Kustoff responded to Tlaib’s comments, saying that the effect was cumulative.
“We have seen really other Democrat members throughout the last three or four months make these anti-Semitic remarks,” he explained. “They are cumulative. They pile up and at some point, we really need to see the Democratic leadership stand up and take a stand to show the nation and really the world that Congress won’t tolerate these type of remarks.”
Most Palestinians, following the Holocaust, however, did not “give up their livelihoods to provide a safe haven for the Jews.”
Rather, the Palestinian leader Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, met with Hitler in 1941, when it looked very much like the German dictator was going to win control of most of Europe. In that meeting, al-Husseini asked for an official German declaration in favor of “the elimination of a Jewish national home” in Palestine — which had been ordered but not yet established following the Paris peace conference in 1919. He also confirmed to Hitler that the Nazis and the Palestinians had shared enemies in “the English, the Jews and the communists.”
Here’s @RepRashida direct quote, “There’s a calming feeling I always tell folks when I think of the Holocaust.” And her “history” of what happened after is a fantasy based on lies spread to delegitimize the state of Israel. https://t.co/5akpUSApIE
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) May 13, 2019
“‘Rashida Tlaib is either completely ignorant of the history or is a deliberate liar’, charged Prof. Benny Morris, one of the leading scholars of British Mandatory Palestine, the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 and the War of Independence.” https://t.co/VJRweO2H9T
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) May 14, 2019
The problem wasn’t so much her “calming feeling” remark as it was her attempt to re-write history. The Palestinians didn’t welcome Holocaust survivors to Israel. They fought against their arrival, killed many who arrived, and sided with the Nazis. https://t.co/BFgo6e1k4r
— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) May 14, 2019
Former Israeli Ambassador to the United States, while stopping short of calling Tlaib’s remarks anti-semitic, agreed that her understanding of history was lacking.
Tlaib’s comment was not anti-Semitic but ahistorical. The Palestinians massacred Jews, violently opposed their search for shelter, and collaborated with the Nazis. But gross ignorance of history must be distinguished from anti-Semitism.
— Michael Oren (@DrMichaelOren) May 13, 2019
In spite of Tlaib’s apparent revision of history, some Democrats, including the party leaders, have rallied behind her and claimed that her remarks were simply “taken out of context.” (RELATED: Top House Dems Defend Tlaib, Demand GOP Apologize To Her After Criticism Of Holocaust Remarks)
Republicans’ desperate attempts to smear @RepRashida & misrepresent her comments are outrageous. President @realDonaldTrump & House GOP should apologize to Rep. Tlaib & the American people for their gross misrepresentations.
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) May 13, 2019
If you read Rep. @RashidaTlaib’s comments, it is clear that President Trump and Congressional Republicans are taking them out of context. They must stop, and they owe her an apology.
— Steny Hoyer (@LeaderHoyer) May 13, 2019