Palestinian-American Congressional Candidate Called Out Over Pledge to Cut Military Aid to ‘Discriminatory’ Israel

Democratic Jewish leaders condemned remarks by the party’s new Michigan Democratic U.S. House candidate Rashida Tlaib, who said she would support cutting U.S. military aid to Israel when entering the U.S. Congress in November.

Asked in an interview with Britain’s Channel 4 about whether she would support slashing American aid, Tlaib, a Palestinian-American, said she would “absolutely” back withholding aid to Israel, in keeping with her belief in the values of ending “inequality” and “people having justice.”

“U.S. aid should be leveraged,” she said, “It should be leveraged to promote that value [of justice]. If you are going to be a country that discriminates against someone solely based on their faith, solely based on their skin color [as] there are Israelis [who] because they are darker skinned… are not being treated equally. To me, that doesn’t fit the values of our country.”

“So I will be using my position as a member of Congress to say no country – not one – should be able to get aid from us, the American people, who talk about justice and equality and stopping discrimination when they promote that kind of injustice.”

In their statement responding to Tlaib’s words, the Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA) said that it “disagrees” with Tlaib’s position and expressed a desire to engage with her on issues relating to Israel.

skip
– Rashida Tlaib interview on Palestine, Trump’s America and becoming the first Muslim congresswoman