Tipsheet

Tlaib Promotes Phrase That's 'Code for Eradicating the State of Israel'

Leah Barkoukis
Leah Barkoukis  |  November 30, 2020 6:45 AM

Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib raised eyebrows Sunday after she retweeted a message with a phrase that’s associated with calling for an end to the state of Israel. 

“Rashida Tlaib RT's out the same message that got Marc Lamont Hill canned from CNN,” StopAntisemitism.org tweeted. “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free - code for eradicating the State of Israel and its millions of Jews. Reminder - this is a sitting U.S. Congresswoman.”

According to the Jewish Journal, the phrase “From the River to the Sea” has always been associated with annihilation of the state of Israel, not liberation.

"The first recorded use of the phrase ... 'free Palestine from the river to the sea' was used by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) when it was formed in 1964," the article states, responding to the controversy around Hill's use of the phrase in 2018. "Notably, back in 1964, much of the land west of the Jordan River was controlled by an Egyptian dictator in Cairo and a sham Jordanian Hashemite King in Amman.  But the PLO’s 1964 Charter specifically excluded both the 'West Bank' and Gaza from the territories it sought to 'liberate.'"

The author points out that the 1964 PLO Charter and the 1968 PLO Charter only have one difference: "Article 24 of the 1964 Charter defined the territory the PLO sought to 'liberate' as only those under Jewish sovereignty at that time. After the Six-Day War, Article 24 was amended to include the West Bank and Gaza Strip as suddenly new parts of the 'Palestinian homeland' needing 'liberation.'"

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Indeed, PLO leadership has been using the phrase for decades. 

The Jihadist/Islamist Supremacist Hamas Charter published in 1988, when Lamont Hill was barely 10 years old, expressly states in its preamble that “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam obliterates it, just as it obliterated others before it.” And, in Article 6, it says that Hamas “strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine …” Since then, Hamas leaders, such as Khaled Mashaal, has repeatedly echoed the genocidal and eliminationist “river to the sea” sentiments expressed by Abu Iyad, such as during his speech in Gaza in 2012, when he said: “Palestine is ours, from the river to the sea and from the south to the north. There will be no concession on an inch of the land.” (Jewish Journal)

Tlaib later shared the same graphic for the International Day of Solidarity With the Palestinian People and said: “Thinking of my sity Muftieh and family in Palestine today. From Detroit to Gaza, we will always fight against oppression and inequality.”

StopAntisemitism.org pointed out that she essentially just wiped “Israel off the map and re-named it Palestine.”

On her first day in office, a BuzzFeed reporter observed that someone had already made a correction to the map that hangs in her office, posting a sticky note that says “Palestine” with an arrow to where Israel is located.

Tlaib also came under fire last week after she questioned reports that Joe Biden would likely nominate Tony Blinken, who is Jewish, for secretary of state. 

"So long as he doesn't suppress my First Amendment right to speak out against Netanyahu's racist and inhumane policies," she commented. "The Palestinian people deserve equality and justice."

Twitter users responded by pointing out her "anti-Semitism was showing."