Rashida Tlaib Backs BDS, Plans To Lead Delegation To West Bank
Rashida Tlaib, who became the first Palestinian-American ever elected to Congress last month, will lead a Congressional delegation to visit the West Bank, according to a report in the Intercept today.
Tlaib will skip the trip to Israel that the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC offers to all newly-elected members of Congress.
“I want us to see that segregation and how that has really harmed us being able to achieve real peace in that region,” Tlaib told the Intercept. “I don’t think AIPAC provides a real, fair lens into this issue… [T]hey don’t show the side that I know is real, which is what’s happening to my grandmother and what’s happening to my family there.”
Tlaib also told the Intercept that she supports the movement to impose boycotts, divestment and sanctions on Israel.
“I personally support the BDS movement,” Tlaib.
Tlaib is the second newly-elected member of Congress to profess their support for BDS in recent weeks, following a report from the website MuslimGirl.com that Ilhan Omar, who represents a district Minnesota, also supports BDS.
Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected] or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis