Biden Expresses Support for Rashida Tlaib and Her Family in West Bank: ‘Thank You for Being a Fighter’

Marisa SarnoffMay 18th, 2021, 3:30 pm
 

In remarks Tuesday at a Ford auto plant in Dearborn, Michigan, President Joe Biden expressed support for Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), who has criticized the administration’s response to the intensifying violence in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank, where some members of Tlaib’s extended family live.

“Rashida Tlaib, I tell you what Rashida, I want to say to you, I admire your intellect, your compassion and your concern for so many other people,” Biden said at the start of his remarks, erroneously pronouncing her name. “And it’s from my heart, I pray that your grandmom and family are well. I promise you, I’m going to do everything to see that they are, on the West Bank.”

“You’re a fighter, and God thank you for being a fighter,” Biden added, as the crowd applauded.

According to ABC White House reporter Ben Siegel, Tlaib and Biden were seen talking at the airport after Biden arrived in Michigan. According to an aide, Siegel reported, Tlaib “conveyed to President Biden the same messages she has shared on the House floor and publicly. Palestinian human rights are not a bargaining chip and must be protected, not negotiated. The U.S. cannot continue to give the right-wing Netanyahu government billions each year to commit crimes against Palestinians.”

Tlaib has been fiercely critical of the Biden administration’s policy on the latest round of deadly violence in the region, which has included Israeli military strikes on homes and office buildings in Gaza, Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli towns, and violent clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian demonstrations in the West Bank.

“To read the statements from President Biden, Secretary [Antony] Blinken, General [Lloyd] Austin, and leaders of both parties, you would hardly know Palestinians existed at all,” Tlaib said in an impassioned speech on the House floor last Thursday.

“If our own State Department can’t even bring itself to acknowledge the killing of Palestinian children is wrong, well, I will say it for the millions of Americans who stand with me against the killing of innocent children, no matter their ethnicity, or faith,” Tlaib added.

Biden has expressed support for a cease-fire during a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after previously reaffirming his “strong support for Israel’s right to defend itself against rocket attacks from Hamas,” according to reports. In a call with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Biden expressed the need for Hamas to stop firing rockets into Israel, and emphasized his support for a two-state solution.

Watch above, via CNN.

This story has been updated to include information about Tlaib and Biden’s conversation prior to his remarks.

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