Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) called for Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) to be “removed from Congress” over a speech she gave at an anti-Israel conference that was linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).
Tlaib had given a speech at the People’s Conference for Palestine in Detroit, Michigan, on Saturday. The event that Tlaib spoke at featured speakers who were linked to the PFLP.
Lawler wrote in a post on X that Tlaib “should be removed from Congress immediately.”
“Associating with and speaking before groups that are funded by US designated terrorist organizations is disqualifying,” Lawler added.
Sana’ Daqqah, who was married to PFLP terrorist Walid Daqqah, was the keynote speaker at the conference. Another speaker was Wisam Rafeedie, an activist with ties to the PFLP, according to the National Review:
Among the speakers at the Michigan event was Wisam Rafeedie, an activist associated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a Marxist-Leninist terror group active in Gaza and headquartered in the Syrian capital of Damascus. The U.S. State Department, as well as Japan, Canada, and the European Union, has designated the PFLP as a terrorist organization.
Daqqah’s husband, Walid, died in April due to cancer while being detained in prison due to him leading a “PFLP operation that kidnapped, tortured, and murdered Israeli soldier Moshe Tamam in 1984,” according to the outlet.
During the conference, Tlaib criticized President Joe Biden for his handling of the ongoing war in Gaza and over his support for Israel.
In response to the International Criminal Court issuing a statement that it was seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defensive Minister Yoav Gallant, and several Hamas leaders, Biden said what was happening in Gaza was “not genocide.”
Tlaib questioned Biden during her speech at the conference and asked him, “Where’s your red line, President Biden?” The Michigan congresswoman also suggested that people vote against Biden at the ballot box in November.
“We’re not gonna forget in November, are we? The International Court of Justice just ruled that the Israeli government must stop its invasion of Rafah,” Tlaib said. “But, President Biden says what’s happening in Gaza is not a genocide. Where’s your red line, President Biden?”
A November 2023 report from the Canary Mission found that Tlaib was connected to six activists linked to Hamas, the U.S.-designated terror organization behind the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel which left 1,200 people dead and more than 200 people taken hostage.
Canary Mission can confirm that at least 6 Hamas-linked activists fundraised for Tlaib during her 2018 Congressional campaign: Mwafaq Jbara, Sheikh Muhammad Qatanani, Huwaida Arraf, Salah Sarsour, Rafeeq Jaber and Abdelbaset Hamayel.
Jbara reportedly met with a “Hamas co-found” while imprisoned in a maximum-security jail in Israel and has “called for the death of Jews and praised the terrorist who killed U.S. Army veteran Taylor Force,” according to the outlet.
