Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) is under fire for calling on Israel to stop its “disgusting” policy of holding the bodies of Palestinians killed while carrying out terror attacks, and for describing the terrorists as “loving” and “successful” people.
In a tweet posted Saturday, Tlaib mourned the fact the body of Palestinian terrorist Mai Afana, whom Tlaib described as a “loving daughter and successful student,” has not yet been released to her family.
Nowhere in the tweet does Tlaib mention why Israel killed Afana.
“Meet Mai Afana’s mother, Khuloud, who is fighting to be able to bury her daughter & begin her healing. Mai was a mother, loving daughter & successful PhD student. She was killed by the Israeli government last June. Israel won’t release her body to her family,” Tlaib posted, alongside a photo of the terrorist’s mother holding a picture of her daughter.
Afana was killed by Israeli troops in June after attempting a ramming attack on a group of Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint in the West Bank. Afana then exited her vehicle and charged at the soldiers, attempting to stab them with a knife she was brandishing.
In a separate tweet, Tlaib lamented, “The Palestinian people deserve the same dignity as any other human being. To deny the right to see their loved ones for a modicum of closure is another form of painful violence from the U.S. sponsored, Israeli arsenal. Mai’s dead body is one of hundreds being held.”
A third tweet saw Tlaib attempt to tug on her followers’ heartstrings with the story of the Erekats and their “loving son” Ahmed who was killed by Israeli forces while also attempting a ramming attack into a checkpoint. Tlaib called on the U.S. to “demand an end to [Israel’s] disgusting practice” of holding the bodies of terrorists.
The soldier who was injured in the attack said Ahmed, the nephew of late Palestinian senior official Saeb Erekat, said he “looked [her] in the eye, turned the steering wheel and rammed” into her, sending her flying across the median, as video footage of the incident shows.
Tlaib’s tweets on Saturday generated plenty of backlash. Asher Freedman wrote, “This is insane. Mai Afana & Ahmed Erekat were killed as they were trying to carry out murderous terror attacks. Is @RashidaTlaib going to start terror-washing the #ISIS bombers in #Kabul as “loving sons” and “succesful [sic] students”?”
Others called on Tlaib to speak out against Hamas for holding the bodies of two Israeli soldiers who died during Operation Protective Edge in 2014 as well as two Israeli citizens who they are holding captive.
Tlaib has in the past expressed support for terrorists. As recently as last month, the Michigan Representative condemned Israel’s decision to demolish the home of a Palestinian terrorist while omitting any mention of the fact that he murdered a teenager and critically wounded two others.
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