SWC Issues Statement in Response to Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) Refusal to Condemn Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI)

November 5, 2023

Human Rights NGO Urges Congress to Censure Representative for her Lurid, Anti-Israel Diatribes

LOS ANGELES – The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) is urging Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to condemn Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) after he failed to do so on CNN’s State of the Union today.
 
During the interview, Senator Sanders was asked to respond to a recent social media post made by Rep, Tlaib where she showed videos of pro-Palestinian rallies across the country where protesters were chanting “free Palestine” and “from the river to the sea.”
 
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action at the SWC, reacted:
 
“It is incomprehensible Senator, that you would give Rep Tlaib a pass because she’s been ‘shaken.’ How about the loved ones of 1,400 innocent Israelis butchered, raped, burned alive, kidnapped, and held hostage on October 7th by Hamas terrorists who broadcast their crimes against humanity? Do you think they have been shaken? How about entire Jewish communities across Europe who have been shaken by violent Palestinian demonstrations chanting the genocidal slogan ‘from river to sea, Palestine will be Free?’ How about the Jewish students from UPenn, Cornell, Columbia, UCLA, Stanford, who are targeted by pro-Hamas students and faculty—they too are shaken."
 
"You have every right to endorse any policy you wish, but giving a pass to an elected official who has been demonizing Israel and her supporters in the US, whose hate contributes to the environment that has spawned anti-Semitism across the US—in your own words Senator Sanders—‘that’s not going to work’ for we too are shaken—by her hatred and your moral free pass to Rashida Tlaib.”


For further information contact the Center’s Communications department at pressinquiries@wiesenthal.com, join the Center on Facebook, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent directly to your Twitter feed. Media can also contact James Lambert, Vice President at Rubenstein Public Relations, at jlambert@rubensteinpr.com or at 1-212-805-3024.
 
 
About the Simon Wiesenthal Center  
 
The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).

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