Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) recently met with a controversial pro-Palestinian organization that has encouraged violence against Israel, justified the use of terrorism against the Jewish state, and has called for the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, according to online postings on social media.
Tlaib, who has been under fire for her hatred of Israel and support for the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement was pictured meeting with members of the Palestine Youth Movement during the Arab Texas Festival held recently in Dallas. The PYM organization is known for its vitriolic rhetoric against Israelis and Jews and has been caught in the past glorifying the leaders of anti-Semitic terrorist organizations.
Tlaib's interaction with the group is unlikely to come as a surprise to the pro-Israel community, but is further evidence of her willingness as a member of Congress to associate with some of the most radical and fringe anti-Israel groups.
Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib with members of the Palestine Youth Movement at the Arab Texas Festival of Dallas. [Photo by @PYM_USA] pic.twitter.com/tdsy35kXSa
— IMEU (@theIMEU) September 2, 2019
PYM has a history of anti-Israel activity that has spilled into outright hostility toward the Jewish state. This includes a 2018 event held in San Francisco in which attendees called for Israeli soldiers to be kidnapped, according to a video of that event captured by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, or CAMERA.
In Facebook postings PYM has memorialized so-called Palestinian martyrs, or those killed or imprisoned while carrying out terrorist attacks on Israel. At least three of those honored by the organization were known operatives of the Hamas terror group.
The PYM organization also has held campus events, including one at the University of California, Los Angeles, in which attendees chanted "long live the intifada," a phrase routinely employed by those advocating armed resistance against the state of Israel.
In July 2019, a PYM event to be held in Toronto, Canada, was canceled after it was disclosed that the group had advocated for terrorism by hosting an event with a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, or PFLP, a group that had committed terror attacks on Israel.
In response to the cancelation of the event, PYM blamed "Zionist organizations" for mounting a campaign against it.
Tlaib's recent interaction with the group is just the latest in a string of meetings the lawmaker has held with leading anti-Israel groups and supporters of the BDS movement.
Tlaib and her freshman colleague Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) have further come under fire for attempting to organize a trip to Israel sponsored by an organization called Miftah, which has praised supporters of terrorism and promoted anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.