A Republican lawmaker in the U.S. House of Representatives tore into one of his Democratic counterparts Thursday after she unloaded a diatribe against a bill to grant $1 billion to Israel for its Iron Dome defense system.
Rep. Chuck Fleishmann (R-Tenn.) issued a fiery response to Rep. Rashida Tlaib (R-Mich.), who accused Israel of “war crimes” and claimed the country has an “apartheid system.”
The back-and-forth between the two diametrically opposed lawmakers came during floor debate over a vote to grant $1 billion toward Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, which intercepts short-range rockets launched at the country’s citizens by terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip.
Ultimately, the legislation was approved by a vote of 420-9, CBN News reported.
Tlaib said she “will not support an effort to enable and support war crimes, human rights abuses and violence,” telling representatives they “cannot be talking only about Israelis’ need for safety at a time when Palestinians are living under a violent apartheid system and are dying from what Human Rights Watch has said are war crimes.”
“I firmly believe our country must oppose selling weapons to anyone, anywhere without human rights law compliance,” she said. “The Israeli government is an apartheid regime.”
In response, Fleishmann tore into Tlaib for her “anti-Israel” and “anti-Semitic” speech.
The congressman asserted the “truth has finally come out on the floor of the House of the United States of America,” arguing Tlaib opposes funding the Iron Dome “because they [the Democrats] have a vocal minority in the majority party that is anti-Israel, that is anti-Semitic, and, as Americans, we can never stand for that.”
“I grew up with Holocaust survivors,” he said. “I grew up with children of Holocaust survivors. Israel has been attacked and attacked and attacked since its inception. As Americans, I beseech you — I reach out to the majority and I say: condemn what we just heard on the floor, condemn terrorism.”
He went on to explain he saw something in Tlaib’s speech that he”never thought” he’d see.
“Not only as a member of this House, but as an American,” Fleishmann explained. “Let us stand with Israel. Let’s combat anti-Semitism wherever it is in the world. Whether it’s in the United States, whether it’s from terrorism. I am shocked … with what I just heard. I ask the majority to condemn the comments that were just made by their member.”
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