Newly minted Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), who was sworn in Thursday, caused quite a stir on social media when a reporter noticed a sticky note on the map in the Muslim politician’s new Capitol Hill office.
Hannah Allam, a reporter for BuzzFeed News, first spotted the note, which features the word “Palestine” written in red ink alongside an arrow pointing toward Israel. It is not immediately clear who placed the note on the map.
Someone has already made a slight alteration to the map that hangs in Rashida Tlaib’s new congressional office. pic.twitter.com/mwyshIog4r
— Hannah Allam (@HannahAllam) January 3, 2019
The arrow is actually pointed just north of Cairo, so it’s not obvious where exactly Tlaib is suggesting a new Palestinian state should be established. Nevertheless, there are a few theories floating around.
Jordan Schachtel, a national security adviser for Blaze TV and a graduate of the Institute of World Politics, tweeted the sticky note’s placement makes it look as if Tlaib, or whoever adhered the paper to the map, “want[s] to conquer Egypt, not Israel.”
https://twitter.com/JordanSchachtel/status/1080890014861586433
And Asra Nomani, a former Georgetown University professor who is Muslim, rebuked Tlaib and clarified the Michigan lawmaker does not “represent all Muslims.”
Nothing subtle here. Linda Sarsour, CAIR & a “slight alteration to the map.” Don’t have any illusions that the 2 new Muslim women in Congress represent all Muslims. They don’t. They represent the anti-feminist, anti-Israel Islamist values of CAIR & Linda Sarsour. Be #woke pic.twitter.com/EibavW0mzx
— Asra Nomani (@AsraNomani) January 3, 2019
It is certainly not a stretch to describe Tlaib as “anti-Israel,” given she has openly advocated for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, known as BDS, a global organization promoting protests and riots against the Jewish nation.
“I stand by the rights of people who support BDS,” Tlaib said in August. “Allow the students to be a part of the movement. I am so proud of the Center for Constitutional Rights in support of student movements for BDS. If you don’t support freedom of speech, you’re in the wrong country.”
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Tlaib also stood by former CNN contributor Marc Lamont Hill, who called for “a free Palestine from the river to the sea” during an anti-Semitic speech delivered at the United Nations in late November. His address was part of the U.N.’s commemoration of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
CNN fired Hill over the controversial speech.
“Calling out the oppressive policies in Israel, advocating for Palestinians to be respected, and for Israelis and Palestinians alike to have peace and freedom, is not anti-Semitic,” Tlaib tweeted in response to CNN’s decision. “We all have a right to speak up about injustice any and everywhere.”