This is their typical modus operandi. They say and do outrageous and even bigoted things, then instantly play the victim card to stifle pushback, insisting that their lives are endangered by the resulting criticism. Much like prominent Squad members would prefer the Jewish State not defend itself against Hamas -- a morally-demented immunity standard for the terrorist Jew-slaughterers -- they also demand that they be allowed to lie and demagogue with impunity. As the phrase goes, if the Squad didn't have double standards, they'd have no standards at all. Here's Cori Bush warning, apparently with a straight face, against 'dangerous' words:
This is a lie. This rhetoric is dangerous and needs to stop.
— Cori Bush (@CoriBush) November 6, 2023
This endangers the life of Rashida and Palestinians standing up for their liberation everywhere. https://t.co/OJQRBqYXDU
A few points. First, I'll remind you that this cry-bullying complaint was registered on the same Twitter feed that lay conspicuously dormant and silent for days after Hamas butchered 1,400 civilians. It only sprang back into action in service of attacking Republicans and Israel, of course. Second, it was published by the same woman whose first instinct on October 7th was to tell Israel to stand down while its women and babies were still bleeding out, and to call for a cessation of US aid to the victims of the attack. This exposes the current pro-Hamas 'ceasefire' agitations for what they are. Its loudest proponents wanted a ceasefire imposed upon Israel within minutes of the terrorist attack against its citizens. Many of these people celebrated or justified the attack at the time, too.
Third, Blackburn goes too far, in my view, in characterizing Rashida Tlaib's immoral and deranged rhetoric the way she does. Tlaib is of course lying in whitewashing "from the river to the sea," which is an eliminationist slogan against Israel that has been directly acted upon by genocidal terrorists. I still wouldn't say Tlaib is openly calling for Jewish genocide. Granted, in light of her enthusiastic embrace of those words, her days-long refusal to condemn baby decapitation, and her apparent unwillingness to disavow Hamas, a case can be made in the other direction. But it's laughable to see Bush, of all people, defend Tlaib, of all people, on the grounds that inflammatory or even defamatory words against her are just too dangerous to countenance.
Which brings us to our fourth point: Tlaib has been spewing hate, bigotry, misinformation and lies for years. She's been especially bad over these past weeks, after the Jewish State she despises was brutally attacked by terrorists she won't reject. I argued on behalf of her censure (another attempt is underway) because Tlaib willfully amplified an actually dangerous lie about Israel bombing a hospital in Gaza, even blaming President Biden for the 500 casualties. Of course, the hospital wasn't bombed, nowhere close to 500 people died, and the nearby explosion was caused by a Palestinian terrorist rocket that misfired. After these facts were established, Tlaib doubled and tripled down on the blood libel, in a public speech and an interview. To this day, she won't remove the lie from her social media feed. This outrageous smear led to rioting across the world, and put lives at risk.
Entirely undeterred, Tlaib is now actively accusing Israel of genocide, in which she is explicitly implicating the President of the United States. Another egregious, safety-imperiling lie. There is no "genocide," which is serious word with a serious definition. Israel's defensive actions against legitimate terrorist targets, replete with warnings for civilians, do not even come close to meeting that definition, no matter how many Hamas-provided death tolls the 'genocide' screamers cite. (I'll note that many of these same screamers defend or cheer the genuinely genocidal actions of Hamas. I'll also note that among the real Palestinian death toll in Gaza, whatever it may be, are quite a few militants, victims of errant Hamas rockets, and "sacrificed martyr" human shields). With Israel under attack, and Jews under siege, Tlaib shouts 'genocide' against Israel and America. This is about as provocative, irresponsible, deceitful and inflammatory as it gets. It fuels an already-dangerous environment. Then she has the gall to play the victim when people notice and respond with deservedly harsh criticism. Spare me. Here are actual victims, in addition to the dozens of Americans murdered and kidnapped by Hamas:
Content warning ⚠️ - an elderly Jewish man has been killed by a pro Palestinian protestor who hit him over the head with a megaphone at yesterday’s Israel rally.
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) November 7, 2023
Sadly, the victim has passed away from internal bleeding.
May his memory be a blessing and his attacker be… pic.twitter.com/41ZXNutwvK
Tearing down signs of abducted Israelis and committing an antisemitic assault. Just another day in NYC.pic.twitter.com/9uOVy5dfsm
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) November 6, 2023
These cretins have graduated from tearing down hostage posters to physical assault, attempted vehicular homicide -- and now there's a new body count. In America. Are we not doing the political rhetoric leading to violence hand-wringing anymore, because the wrong party would be blamed? Finally, it's quite rich to receive lectures on safety from Ms. Bush. She is one of the leading national advocates for defunding the police, which is one of the most insane and unsafe public 'policy' ideas imaginable. If she had her way, Bush would unleash untold chaos and suffering on communities, effectively siding with criminals just as she effectively sides with Hamas. She is a menace to public safety, and her ideas would be extremely harmful to people who can't, as she does, spend other people's money on private security. Relatedly, I'll leave you with this interesting recent development in local St. Louis Democratic politics:
Cori Bush's new primary challenger Wesley Bell criticized her from the right at his opening presser. The "defund the police" movement "hurt Democrats"; she's wrong on Israel and "we must stand with our allies." https://t.co/PdFL9If1WI
— David Weigel (@daveweigel) October 30, 2023
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