Recently censured Rep. Rashida Tlaib joined MSNBC All In host Chris Hayes on Friday to disscuss said censuring, Israel, and to try to claim “from the river to the sea” is really just used by peace-loving people who want Israelis and Palestinians to coexist. For his part, Hayes called the resolution “ludicrous” and ignored Tlaib standing by the claims Israel bombed the Gaza hospital, even after that was debunked.
Hayes began, “I want to, sort of, stipulate here that I think the censure resolution is a sort of ludicrous distraction amidst the sheer amount of human suffering happening in the region.”
As for what got Tlaib censured, Hayes neither condemned nor condoned the video, but simply asked Tlaib to explain herself:
So, you know, just to put that aside, but I do want to talk about this phrase because obviously this was a phrase that I think really caught some folks, I think Jewish Americans, supporters of Israel, different folks, it reads differently to different people ‘from the river to the sea.’ The contention is that this is a call for a kind of anti-colonial expulsion, right? Similar to, like, Algeria kicking out the French, right? Like, ‘get out of here, go back to wherever you came from.’ This is how it is heard, I think, to a lot of Jewish ears. So I want you to explain what you mean by it, and why you used it, or why you included it in the video.
People think that because that is what it means, but Tlaib unintentionally hilariously claimed Palestinians have always been for coexistence, “I mean, look, I'm asking my colleagues, don't distort the words of my residents. Many people in this movement for human rights for Palestinians have always centered around co-existence.”
She also blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the current state of affairs:
Netanyahu's current government, the most extremist government in the history of Israel, is not calling for that [a ceasefire]. He's going to the United Nations, and basically showing maps where Palestinians don't exist and so I wish my colleagues would call out that.
First, even a left-wing government would go to war after the murder of 1,400 people, which is why Israel is united in this effort. Second, Tlaib was not censured for calling for a ceasefire, as wrongheaded as that is. Several members of Congress have called for one and they have not been censured, Tlaib was censured for using genocidal slogans in a video while accusing the president of her own party being complicit in genocide and for standing by the fake news of that Israel bombed the hospital, which Hayes conveniently never brought up.
Even if one were take Tlaib’s claims seriously, Hayes still saw a big problem with them, “I mean, fundamentally, the people that adhere to Zionism and think Israel should exist as a Jewish state, like, they’re just not going to like that. I just want to clarify what the actual positions are.”
Tlaib’s response was to invoke segregation, “Well, I understand that. You know, Chris, look, I grew up in the most beautiful, blackest in the country where separate but equal didn't work. We saw it in our own country. But I'm not going to push it on the people. If folks want to push for a two-state, go for it, but guess what? Guess what? Netanyahu's current government is not supporting that.”
Again, Tlaib insisted, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that she and her fellow Palestinian advocates are wonderful, peace-loving people, “You know, this is what I have to continue to speak truth to power on and I'm not going to allow folks to distort or try to silence, or again, try to make out that my residents are calling for something anything, anything but the end to the violence.”
There are several reasons why people call for Israel’s destruction or tear down posters of hostages. Being a peace-loving believer in coexistence is not one of them.
Here is a transcript for the November 9 show:
MSNBC All In with Chris Hayes
11/8/2023
8:55 PM ET
CHRIS HAYES: I want to, sort of, stipulate here that I think the censure resolution is a sort of ludicrous distraction amidst the sheer amount of human suffering happening in the region. So, you know, just to put that aside, but I do want to talk about this phrase because obviously this was a phrase that I think really caught some folks, I think Jewish Americans, supporters of Israel, different folks, it reads differently to different people “from the river to the sea.” The contention is that this is a call for a kind of anti-colonial expulsion, right? Similar to, like, Algeria kicking out the French, right? Like, "get out of here, go back to wherever you came from." This is how it is heard, I think, to a lot of Jewish ears. So I want you to explain what you mean by it, and why you used it, or why you included it in the video.
RASHIDA TLAIB: I mean, look, I'm asking my colleagues, don't distort the words of my residents. Many people in this movement for human rights for Palestinians have always centered around co-existence. You hear them calling from that, and saying that you know, no matter your faith, your ethnicity, your background, you should be able to live without fear, without discrimination, without this kind of inequality that, you know, Netanyahu's extremist party and his leadership has been pushing and so, for many of my colleagues, they know, deep in their hearts, where my heart is and many of the folks including the American Jewish community that is out there demanding, again, the call again, against this notion that we can’t all live together and so, I think again, this is just a moment right now that folks want to use, this specific moment to silence the majority of Americans that are calling for a cease-fire to silence this movement around actual peaceful coexistence. Because right now, that's not what Netanyahu wants. Netanyahu's current government, the most extremist government in the history of Israel, is not calling for that. He's going to the United Nations, and basically showing maps where Palestinians don't exist and so I wish my colleagues would call out that.
HAYES: Just to be clear, when you talk about peaceful coexistence, you imagine a pluralistic democratic state in the full land from the river to the sea, people call it the one-state solution, but that would be. I mean, fundamentally, the people that adhere to Zionism and think Israel should exist as a Jewish state, like, they’re just not going to like that. I just want to clarify what the actual positions are.
TLAIB: Well, I understand that. You know, Chris, look, I grew up in the most beautiful, blackest in the country where separate but equal didn't work. We saw it in our own country. But I'm not going to push it on the people. If folks want to push for a two-state, go for it, but guess what? Guess what? Netanyahu's current government is not supporting that.
He's literally said it to us over and over again. He doesn't want to coexist with Palestinians. And we are saying no, we're going to have a peaceful, a peaceful coexistence and pushing against those that want to target people solely based on the fact that they're Palestinian, or of a different faith and again that’s what my city that I grew up taught me—is to push against that kind of racism, that kind of discrimination, and that kind of, again, call for elimination if—I’ll use the words he said, cleanse Gaza. You know, this is what I have to continue to speak truth to power on and I'm not going to allow folks to distort or try to silence, or again, try to make out that my residents are calling for something anything, anything but the end to the violence.
