BREAKING NEWS: Rashida Tlaib Delivers Passionate Call For Ceasefire And Defense Against Censure

Forbes Breaking News

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) spoke against the motion to censure her, and called for a ceasefire in Israel to protect Palestinian civilians.

Transcript

00:00 I'm the only Palestinian American serving in Congress, Mr. Chair, and my perspective

00:04 is needed here now more than ever.

00:07 I will not be silenced, and I will not let you distort my words.

00:12 Folks forget I'm from the city of Detroit, the most beautiful blackest city in the country

00:16 where I learned to speak truth to power even if my voice shakes.

00:20 Trying to bully or censor me won't work because this movement for a ceasefire is much bigger

00:27 than one person.

00:28 It's growing every single day.

00:30 There are millions of people across our country who oppose Netanyahu's extremism and are done

00:36 watching our government support collective punishment and the use of white phosphorus

00:39 bombs that melt flesh to the bone.

00:42 They are done watching our government, Mr. Chair, supporting cutting off food, water,

00:46 electricity, and medical care to millions of people with nowhere to go.

00:50 Like me, Mr. Chair, they don't believe the answer to war crimes is more war crimes.

00:55 The refusal of Congress and the administration to acknowledge Palestinian lives is chipping

00:59 away at my soul.

01:01 Over 10,000 Palestinians have been killed.

01:04 Majority were children.

01:07 But let me be clear.

01:09 My criticism has always been of the Israeli government and Netanyahu's actions.

01:14 It is important to separate people and governments, Mr. Chair.

01:17 No government is beyond criticism.

01:20 The idea that criticizing the government of Israel is anti-Semitic sets a very dangerous

01:24 precedent and it's being used to silence diverse voices speaking up for human rights across

01:29 our nation.

01:31 Do you realize what it's like, Mr. Chair, for the people outside the chamber right now

01:36 listening in agony to their own government dehumanizing them?

01:39 To hear the President of the United States we helped elect dispute death tolls as we

01:43 see video after video of dead children and parents under rubble.

01:47 Mr. Chair, do you know what it's like to fear rising hate crimes, to know how Islamophobia

01:52 and anti-Semitism makes us all less safe, and worry that your own child might suffer

01:57 the horrors that six-year-old Wadiyat did in Illinois?

02:01 I can't believe I have to say this, but Palestinian people are not disposable.

02:22 We are human beings just like anyone else.

02:28 My sissy, my grandmother, like all Palestinians, just wants to live her life with freedom and

02:37 human dignity we all deserve.

02:40 Speaking up to save lives, Mr. Chair, no matter faith, no matter ethnicity, should not be

02:45 controversial in this chamber.

02:47 The cries of the Palestinian and Israeli children sound no different to me.

02:53 Why?

02:54 What I don't understand is why the cries of Palestinians sound different to you all.

03:02 We cannot lose our shared humanity, Mr. Chair.

03:06 I hear the voices of advocates in Israel, in Palestine, across America, and around the

03:12 world for peace.

03:13 I am inspired by the courageous survivors in Israel who have lost loved ones, yet are

03:19 calling for a ceasefire and the end to violence.

03:23 I am grateful to the people in the streets for the peace movement, with countless Jewish

03:29 Americans across the country standing up and lovingly saying, "Not in our name."

03:37 We will continue to call for a ceasefire, Mr. Chair, for the immediate delivery of critical

03:41 humanitarian aid to Gaza, for the release of all hostages and those arbitrarily detained,

03:46 and for every American to come home.

03:49 We will continue to work for a real, lasting peace that upholds human rights and dignity

03:53 of all people, and centers in peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians, and censures

03:59 no one, and ensures that no person, no child, has to suffer or live in fear of violence.

04:07 Seventy-one percent of Michigan Democrats support a ceasefire.

04:12 So you can try to censure me, but you can't silence their voices.

04:17 I urge my colleagues to join with the majority of Americans and support a ceasefire now to

04:21 save as many lives as possible.

04:24 President Biden must listen to and represent all of us, not just some of us.

04:29 I urge the President to have the courage to call for a ceasefire and the end of killings.

04:35 Thank you, and I yield.

04:36 (Applause.)

04:37 THE PRESIDENT: The gentlelady yields back.

04:38 A gentleman from Maryland Reserves.

04:39 (Applause.)

04:39 Gentleman from Maryland Reserves.

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