White House Chides ‘Irresponsible’ Rashida Tlaib for Accusing Biden of Supporting ‘Genocide’
White House spokesman John Kirby hit back at comments by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), who said President Joe Biden is supporting the genocide of Palestinians.
Biden has dismissed growing calls for a ceasefire in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, which began when Hamas terrorists killed 1,400 Israels and abducted more than 200 on Oct. 7. Since then, Israel has carried out strikes against Gaza, which Hamas governs.
The Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health said more than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed in the last month. Biden has suggested Israel initiate a “tactical pause” to let humanitarian aid into Gaza and allow Palestinian civilians to evacuate to safer areas. However, he opposes a lasting ceasefire.
“Mr. President, the American people are not with you on this one,” Tlaib said in a video posted on social media on Friday. Following her video message, text on the screen read, “Joe Biden supported the genocide of the Palestinian people. The American people won’t forget. Biden, support a ceasefire now or don’t count on us in 2024.”
During Monday’s Your World on Fox News, host Neil Cavuto asked Kirby about the remarks.
“Congressman Rashida Tlaib, of course, accused the Biden administration of genocide and sort of turning the other way in the face of this,” he said. “She’s been criticized by people like Bernie Sanders and others, to be fair. But are you concerned this is leading a schism, even within the Democratic Party and among those who would normally support what the president wants to do in a foreign affairs matter?
“Certainly, members of Congress have got to speak for themselves and for their beliefs about this,” Kirby responded. “We’re not focused here at the National Security Council about you know, the political, the domestic political situation here–”
“Well, what she said was that the administration was supporting genocide,” Cavuto interjected.
Kirby responded to the charge directly:
Of course we’re not doing that. And what is happening in Gaza, again, as terrible as all of these civilian casualties are, we know there’s many, many thousands of them, we don’t want there to be any. I don’t want to minimize that at all.
But you can’t look at what is happening in Gaza and say that it fits the definition of genocide. And clearly, we don’t agree with that description. We think that is an irresponsible way of describing this. We don’t associate ourselves with that. And that is not– in our view, that is not what is happening here.
Tlaib is the first woman of Palestinian descent elected to Congress. Last month, she received criticism for keeping a Palestinian flag outside her office at the Capitol.
Watch above via Fox News.
