Florida Democrat Says He Would Vote to Censure Tlaib Over Gaza Hospital Bombing Comments and ‘River to the Sea’ Phrase

Florida Democrat Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) pulled no punches this week slamming his fellow House Democrat Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) over her attacks on President Joe Biden and her defense of the use of the phrase, “From the river to the sea.” Moskowitz told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Monday evening that he would consider voting to censure Tlaib if the censure was a direct rebuke of her rhetoric related to the Israel-Hamas War.

“Your fellow House Democrat, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib of Michigan is accusing Joe Biden, President Biden, of supporting a genocide in Gaza,” Tapper began, adding:

And she said, ‘from the river to the sea,’ she tried to explain this on Twitter, what that call means. She’s obviously Palestinian-American. And she said, quote, ‘From the river to the sea is an aspiration call for freedom, human rights and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction or hate,’ unquote.

I know there are a lot of people who disagree that that’s what from the river to the sea means, given the fact that there are extremists, especially terrorists like Hamas, who use that phrase to mean from the river to the sea, destroy Israel. What’s your view of what Congresswoman Tlaib is saying?

“Well, first of all, we don’t disagree there. Some debates don’t have two sides, ‘from the river to the sea’ means the destruction of Israel and everyone who’s in it,” Moskowitz replied, adding:

Okay. Just like Mein Kampf is not a coloring book. And the final solution means exactly what Hitler meant it mean. ‘From the river to the sea’ is calling for the destruction of an entire country, period. Full stop. And so, look, the congresswoman has a First Amendment right. She can say whatever she wants, but at the same time, Congress has the ability to express their displeasure with a fellow colleague of ours calling for the destruction of a country. What if we had someone going around saying France should be wiped off the map? I mean, we would think that’s outrageous. But somehow from the river to the sea is debatable. It is another ridiculous double standard when it comes to Israel.

“She also said Biden is supporting a genocide in Gaza,” Tapper followed up.

“Listen, let’s not be cavalier. There’s a lot of suffering going on in Gaza. But if Israel wanted to commit a genocide, there’d be 500,000 people who are dead. Right. They have the military to do that is what I’m saying. Right. But that’s not the case,” Moskowitz replied, adding:

Not only that, she’s using numbers that are given to her by Hamas. By the way, Hamas also doesn’t differentiate in the 10,000 people that they say have been killed there. They don’t differentiate between Hamas fighters and civilians. They lumped them all together. Right. And so, listen, there is absolutely tremendous suffering in Gaza.

There is absolutely civilians that have been killed and there have been kids that have been caught in this. And that’s Hamas’s fault. Hamas knew Israel would have an overwhelming response. Now, I support humanitarian aid. I support pauses to get the hostages out. But there can be no ceasefire with Hamas. Instead, we should be calling for Hamas to surrender. How about that? How about we call for the terrorist organization to surrender instead of a country like Israel defending its people?

“It sounds like you’re contemplating supporting a censure resolution against her, if there were one. I assume you voted against the one that Marjorie Taylor Greene brought,” Tapper responded.

“Marjorie Taylor Greene brought up a censure having to do with an insurrection. And let’s not,” Moskowitz jumped in as Tapper, adding, “No, of course, it was not an insurrection.”

“It was not an insurrection. And October 7th should not be conflated with any other date on the calendar,” Moskowitz added.

“So but if there were one that was more about what she said that I just read, that’s something you would support?” Tapper pressed on another attempt to censure Tlaib.

“If a censure comes on her misinformation on the hospital bombing, which obviously we know was not true, that she continued to spread even after intelligence came out, that wasn’t true. And on ‘from the river to the sea,’ I would support that censure,” Moskowitz replied.

Watch the full clip above via CNN.