Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) said criticisms of Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s (D., Mich.) recent remarks about Palestinian Arabs and the Holocaust were part of efforts to “eliminate the public voice of Muslims from the public discourse.”
MSNBC host Chris Hayes introduced his interview of Omar Tuesday night by complaining Republicans were in a “sustained round of bad-faith attacks” against Tlaib, who said last week that she was calmed by the fact that Arabs provided a safe haven for Jews after the Holocaust and simultaneously mourned that this was forced on them. The statement was historically inaccurate:
“There’s always kind of a calming feeling, I tell folks, when I think of the Holocaust, and the tragedy of the Holocaust, and the fact that it was my ancestors—Palestinians—who lost their land and some lost their lives, their livelihood, their human dignity, their existence in many ways, have been wiped out, and some people’s passports,” said Tlaib, the first Palestinian-American woman elected to Congress. “And, just all of it was in the name of trying to create a safe haven for Jews, post-the Holocaust, post-the tragedy and the horrific persecution of Jews across the world at that time. And, I love the fact that it was my ancestors that provided that, right, in many ways, but they did it in a way that took their human dignity away and it was forced on them.” – READ MORE