Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D., N.J.) pushed back against freshman representative Rashida Tlaib's (D., Mich.) characterization of a meeting he and another Democratic representative had with her back in February, saying he was "disappointed by the misleading way this attempt to bridge differences was characterized."
The Intercept reported on Wednesday that Gottheimer and Rep. Elaine Luria (D., Va.) met with Tlaib at the urging of the Democratic leadership back in February to discuss "anti-Semitic comments on dual loyalty and other anti-Semitic tropes that the Congressman and many other members of Congress found deeply disturbing," according to an email James Adams, the spokesperson for Gottheimer, sent to the Intercept.
"As requested by leadership, the Congressman brought copies of statements that he found disturbingly anti-Semitic. The Congressman shared them with Congresswoman Tlaib and had what he believed, at the time, was a mutually productive conversation," Adams wrote in an email. "The Congressman shared a document with a list of deeply disturbing, anti-Semitic tropes uttered by certain members of Congress."
Gottheimer said he believed they had a "mutually productive conversation" about Tlaib's past controversial statements, but Tlaib gave a different account in the Intercept piece.
"He was using a very stern tone, like a father to a child. At that moment, I realized he's a bully," Tlaib said. "He had a goal of breaking me down. I left feeling exactly that way."
Luria and Gottheimer both sent statements to Jewish Insider, where they disputed Tlaib's characterization of the meeting.
The meeting was a "cordial and professional interchange between all of us," Rep. Luria said.
"My recollection of the meeting is that we went into it with good intentions to try to build a personal relationship so that we could talk about these issues," says Luria. "And the meeting was cordial. We did not agree on policy issues. I mean specifically on BDS, [but] I remember the meeting ending well. I don’t have any recollection of [Rep. Gottheimer] bullying or being rude or anything like that." Luria added that Gottheimer "gave her a hug on the way out and said, ‘thanks for coming and [I] look forward to meeting with you again.’"
Rep. Gottheimer told Jewish Insider:
"Rep. Rashida Tlaib and I do not agree on everything. But we're both Democrats, and all healthy political parties are host to a range of views. I have a very different recollection of the meeting she discussed in that piece. I recall Rep. Luria and me honestly explaining how hurtful it is to have your loyalty to America questioned and how, historically, that has harmed the well-being of the Jewish people — those whose loyalty was put into question in the first place. Rep. Elaine Luria and I held that meeting together, at the leadership's request, in a good faith effort to bring unity and understanding in an increasingly upsetting situation. In it, we shared some of what we believed were antisemitic statements made by multiple members of Congress. We had what we believed, at the time, was a mutually productive conversation. I'm disappointed by the misleading way this attempt to bridge differences was characterized."
Tlaib, the first Palestinian woman elected to Congress, has a history using anti-Semitic rhetoric and supporting the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel.
She expressed her support of the Palestinian state back in early January. She spoke out against Senate Bill S.1, sponsored by Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.). She castigated the "Combatting BDS Act," a measure contained in the "Strengthening America's Security in the Middle East Act of 2019" to combat the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. Tlaib said the act is "literally an attack on our Constitution."