(JNS) A cartoon tying anti-Israel Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) to Hezbollah sparked anti-Muslim-bias allegations by her and her supporters, as well as pushback by critics who noted her sympathy for Islamist terrorism.
It will “incite more hate and violence against Arab and Muslim communities,” Tlaib wrote on X about the cartoon, which National Review published on Friday.
Created by Henry Payne, the cartoon shows Tlaib at a desk with a smoking pager and the caption: “Odd, my pager just exploded.”
Thank you, Mayor @AHammoudMI, for speaking up. Our community is already in so much pain right now. This racism will incite more hate + violence against our Arab & Muslim communities, and it makes everyone less safe. It’s disgraceful that the media continues to normalize this… https://t.co/JTn2mur4Yj
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) September 20, 2024
On Sept. 17, thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah operatives exploded in Lebanon and Syria, killing at least a dozen and wounding thousands more in what Iranian terror proxy said was an Israeli attack. The following day, additional Hezbollah devices exploded.
The controversy around the cartoon highlighted allegations of racism by advocates of Tlaib and other far-left Democrats. It also underlined conservatives’ criticism of the slide by some Democrats towards anti-Israel vitriol and acceptance of jihadist terrorism.
Tlaib, who identifies as a “Palestinian” American, has a history of appearing alongside terrorists at events. In 2019, she posed with Abbas Hamideh, a Hezbollah apologist and activist for Israel’s destruction, at her swearing-in ceremony in Detroit. In May of this year, she spoke at the People’s Conference for Palestine event in Detroit that also featured Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) member Wisam Rafeedie.
Like Hamas and other PA Arab terrorist groups, Tlaib is on record as opposing a two-state solution in favor of the maximalist one-state model, which is shorthand for the dismantling of Jewish self-governance. She has denied Israel’s right to exist and has used the “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” slogan, which is widely understood to be a call to ethnically cleanse the Land of Israel of Jews.
Congress voted last November to censure the congresswoman for “calling for the destruction of the State of Israel” in connection with her use of that slogan.
Several Tlaib advocates joined her in condemning the cartoon, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who wrote on X: “The way Islamophobia and anti-Arab hatred is so deeply normalized and accepted in our politics is horrifying.”
Abdullah H. Hammoud, the mayor of Dearborn, Michigan, which has a sizeable Muslim community, wrote on X: “Absolutely disgusting. Anti-Arab bigotry & Islamophobia have become normalized in our media.”
Marina Medvin, a well-known conservative columnist and jurist, noted that the Dearborn-based Islamic Center of America on Friday hosted a vigil for the Hezbollah terrorists who were targeted on Sept. 17.
“You won’t believe this — or maybe you will: Rashida Tlaib’s Dearborn Michigan crowd is hosting a vigil for Hezbollah pager patrons,” Medvin wrote on X, attaching a banner advertising the event.
You won’t believe this — or maybe you will —
Rashida Tlaib’s Dearborn Michigan crowd is hosting a vigil for H!zbollah pager patrons ? pic.twitter.com/qPX66zJbi6
— Marina Medvin ?? (@MarinaMedvin) September 19, 2024
Brianna Wu, the executive director of Rebellion PAC, a progressive organization, on Sept. 19 aired her disappointment with Tlaib and Ocasio-Cortez over their stance on anti-Israel terrorism.
“I am extremely frustrated to see AOC, who I used to think was one of the best politicians in the entire country, whitewash Hezbollah. I used to deeply respect Rashida Tlaib, who I thought was one of the most pragmatic leaders in the progressive movement. She’s proven herself to just be a flat out antisemite,” Wu wrote on X, where she has 170,000 followers.
Payne, the cartoonist, told journalist Simon Shaykhet of the ABC-affiliated WXYZ Detroit station that his cartoon was part of a series of works that looks at Tlaib’s “lack of congressional leadership in failing to support Israel’s battle for survival,” as “Jews are under an existential threat from Iran and its Hamas-Hezbollah proxies not seen since WWII.”
National Review has so far resisted calls to remove the cartoon.
