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Here's What Hakeem Jeffries Had to Say About the House Censuring Rashida Tlaib

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  November 08, 2023 4:00 PM

Late on Tuesday night, the House voted to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) for her anti-semitic remarks and spreading falsehoods about Israel following Hamas' October 7 terrorist attack against our ally in the Middle East. This more recent resolution had been brought by Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA), who, during Tuesday's debate, repeatedly asked, "if this is not worthy of censure, what is," with regards to Tlaib's falsehoods. While 22 Democrats crossed the aisle to vote in favor of censuring Tlaib, a majority of Democrats, including all of those in House leadership, voted not to do so. Given the remarks from House Democratic leadership though, including and especially House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), it's not so shocking.

Earlier on Tuesday, the House voted against the motion to table the resolution, and debate went forward. While the vote on censuring Tlaib was initially to take place on Wednesday, it ultimately happened on Tuesday night, with a vote of 234-188.

The Democrats who crossed the aisle included Reps. Steve Cohen (TN), Jim Costa (CA), Angie Craig (MN), Don Davis (NC), Lois Frankel (FL), Jared Golden (ME), Dan Goldman (NY), Josh Gottheimer (NJ), Greg Landsman (OH), Susie Lee (NV), Kathy Manning (NC), Jared Moskowitz (FL), Wiley Nickel (NC), Chris Pappas (NH), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA), Pat Ryan (NY), Brad Schneier (IL), Kim Schrier (WA), Darren Soto (FL), Ritchie Torres (NY), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL), and Frederica Wilson (FL).

Some of those names are surprising. Others are not. Many of those Democratic members are Jewish. Others might be in vulnerable seats or have Jewish constituencies even if they themselves aren't Jewish. They might just have recognized it as the proper thing to do. One named mentioned above, Torres, who is not Jewish, has been particularly vocal in calling out Tlaib and other members of the Squad for their narratives following Hamas' attack on Israel.

What makes that these 22 members voted the way they did even more significant is that House leadership whipped against the vote. House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA) pointing colleagues to both McCormick's resolution, but also another resolution from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). The House failed to pass her resolution last week when they successfully voted to table the motion, and she ultimately withdrew her subsequent one.

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Jeffries also voted against the measure, a not surprising move, not just because House Democratic leadership stayed unified, but because of his comments on the matter. 

Last week, a pro-Hamas ad was posted that featured Tlaib with a warning for President Joe Biden, claiming that the people do not stand with him in giving what support he has managed to give to Israel. Footage from pro-Hamas rallies around the country, including in Tlaib's state of Michigan, was also included. Protesters could be heard chanting "from the river to the sea," which is a phrase calling for the genocide of Jews and the destruction of the state of Israel. Tlaib herself shared the ad last Friday. As the video started to gain more attention, Tlaib posted a particularly lacking defense of the phrase, calling it "aspirational."

When asked about by CNN's Manu Raju about his concerns with the phrase, Jeffries spoke to how "the extreme MAGA Republican agenda has nothing to do with the American people," added Republicans "want to default on our debt, shutdown the government, crash the economy, censure Democrats, and avoid holding their own members accountable." According to Jeffries, "this is who they are." Meanwhile, one could say that the obsession of the phrase "MAGA Republicans," even when that has nothing to do with the situation at hand, is who Jeffries is. 

Even for those Democrats who may have claimed to denounce the use of it, many didn't really act on it, given that they didn't act vote for censure. Many Democrats, including Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who led Tuesday's debate for the Democratic side, cited free speech. 

Jeffries wasn't the only one to reference "MAGA Republicans" when speaking out against censuring Tlaib, though. On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on "Free Speech on College Campuses," during which Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) claimed that it was "MAGA Republicans and others" who voted to censure Tlaib. In doing so, he neglected to acknowledge that 22 of his fellow Democrats voted to do so. This includes likely one of the least "MAGA" members there are, Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY). 

During his time to speak at the hearing, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) pointed out as much about the vote breakdown, though Johnson had already left. 

While Jeffries did put out a statement that mentioned condemnation of the phrase, it was in that way useless, given that he didn't even mention Tlaib by name. It was also not specifically about condemning that phrase, but rather about the one-month anniversary of the war.

As his statement read in part, with added emphasis:

Israel has an absolute right to exist as a Jewish, Democratic state and the ancestral homeland for the Jewish people who have faced pogroms, persecution and antisemitism for centuries. The State of Israel, a safe haven for Jews, was viciously attacked on October 7. Echoing slogans that are widely understood as calling for the complete destruction of Israel - such as from the River to the Sea - does not advance progress toward a two-state solution. Instead, it unacceptably risks further polarization, division and incitement to violence. There are millions of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza who legitimately aspire to peaceful self-determination and economic dignity. The continued presence of Hamas undermines that cause, further making clear that the ongoing effort to decisively defeat this brutal terrorist regime must succeed.

...

As public officials serving in Congress, the words we choose matter. It is my strong belief that we must all take care to respect each other personally, even when strongly disagreeing on matters of policy or legislation. We should be able to agree to disagree on domestic or foreign policy issues, without being disagreeable with each other or the President of the United States. If the end goal following the defeat of Hamas and safe return of all hostages is a just and lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinian people, as I believe it should be, ad hominem attacks against colleagues will never accomplish that objective.

When Jeffries was confronted last week by CNN's Wolf Blitzer as to how another Squad member, Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) was called out for accusing Israel of committing "genocide," he still stuck to that "extreme MAGA Republican" label. It was even the headline of a statement his leadership office put out.

Although Jeffries did accurately point out that "Israel is not conducting an ethnic cleansing campaign. Israel is not engaged in genocide. Israel was brutally attacked in the most horrific way on October 7th. It has resulted in the largest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust," there was more to his response that failed to actually condemn Bush's remarks.

"At the same time, we are, of course, going to make sure that we are providing the humanitarian assistance necessary for Palestinian civilians who may be in harm's way through no fault of their own. That's also one of the reasons why the package that has been put forward by President Biden should be considered in its totality," he insinsted, going on to complain about Republicans. "This is a dangerous world that we are all living in right now. This is a heavy time in America and throughout the world and we shouldn't be playing partisan political games, which is what it appears the extreme MAGA Republicans are prepared to do this week and that's unfortunate."

On Tuesday morning, Jeffries had posted from his official account that "Right-wing extremists in Congress continue to play partisan political games," which later resulted in many replies calling him out for how he and so many others in his party wouldn't censure Tlaib.

Jeffries' name has also been referenced as other members of the Squad, including Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) lamented that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) would dare to go after their anti-Israel positions, especially since the PAC has supported Jeffries and led members on such trips to Israel.

We can likely expect more Democrats to be in disarray over what many regard as the common-sense position to support our ally of Israel. Raju posted more about infighting on Wednesday, noting Democrats opposed to a resolution supporting Israel went. to Jeffries who has tried to be "peacemaker." Good luck with that.