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Here's Who Was Just Named the '2023 AntiSemite of the Year'

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  January 09, 2024 1:00 PM

On Monday night, Stop Antisemitism awarded Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) the title of "2023 Antisemite of the Year." She even beat out Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh for the top spot, as well as supermodel Gigi Hadid. A press release noted that the results came after nearly 15,000 people voted in an online poll. 

Included in a pinned post from the organization's X account is a 90-second video highlighting the Squad member's worst moments of antisemitism from the past year in response to Hamas perpetrating the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel, though it also details how there's plenty of examples from previous years as well. The video referred to Tlaib as "the disgraced Congresswoman," and said that earning the crown was "long overdue."

For example, upon taking office in 2019, Tlaib replaced Israel on a map with "Palestine." She was also barred from entering Israel due to her support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, with Stop Antisemitism highlighting how she shared an antisemitic post as a result. 

Then there's her "shameful antisemitic voting record," which included defending BDS in 2019 and "invoking the antisemitic trope of dual loyalty." She's also voted against Iron dome funding, after making antisemitic remarks that were criticized by fellow Democrat, then Rep. Ted Deutch from Florida. Last year, before the October 7 attack, she voted against a resolution making clear that Israel was not a racist or apartheid state, necessitated by Rep. Pramila Jayapal's (D-WA) claims that Israel was in fact those things. The resolution also condemned all forms of xenophobia. 

The video then reminds viewers of the horrors that occurred on October 7, of how 1,200 Israelis were "savagely murdered" by Hamas, most of them civilians. Hamas targeted men, women, and children in unspeakable ways, not even sparing Holocaust survivors or babies. In addition to murder, Hamas tortured, kidnapped, and raped their victims, which is also mentioned in the video. 

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Stop Antisemitism notes how Tlaib voted against a resolution that condemned Hamas and reaffirmed assistance to Israel, and that she "blamed Israel and falsely accused them of hospital bombings," despite how they were the result of misfired terrorist rockets. Tlaib doubled down on her false narrative in a repost over X, as well as in hysterical remarks outside of the Capitol, with pro-Hamas agitators illegally occupying the Cannon House building not long after. She didn't issue an acknowledgment about the false narrative until over a week later, but, as the Stop Antisemitism video points out, the post is still up.

It gets worse from there, though, as Tlaib was not only featured in a video ad that included pro-Hamas agitators in her state of Michigan chanting "from the river to the sea," but she herself later shared it to call out President Joe Biden and then engaged in a ridiculous defense of the genocidal phrase. Stop Antisemitism was among those accounts calling her out for such a post, which is also still up. 

The congresswoman was eventually censured by the House in a bipartisan vote after repeating such false narratives and for her defense of the genocidal phrase. Tlaib played the victim throughout. 

Let's not also forget, though, how Tlaib had also failed to properly respond to the Octoober 7 attack in a timely manner, and additionally ignored reporters who asked her if she condemned the beheading of babies, and scoffed at those who tried to get her to speak to her false narratives. 

Her antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiments were also on display last May when she held an event regarding Israel's founding as a "Nakba," or "catastrophe," around the time of its 75th anniversary. The event took place thanks to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in the committee room for the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), which Sanders chairs. He did so without consulting or even informing Ranking Member Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who expressed outrage. Sanders made his move after then Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) had blocked the event from being held at the Capitol.

While it might seem stunning that a sitting U.S. congresswoman would beat out a leader of Hamas, the title for Tlaib is well-earned here. Even before the October 7 attack she's been particularly bold and unapologetic about her anti-Israel stance, as she's taken it upon herself to brag about, including how she got other Democrats to oppose funding the Iron dome in past years. 

As the video made clear, this achievement been a long time coming.