Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) introduced legislation in Congress on Wednesday recognizing the 77th anniversary of the nakba, the Arabic term Palestinians use for the “catastrophe” or “disaster” associated with the founding of the modern-day State of Israel.
“The nakba never ended. Today, we are witnessing the Israeli apartheid regime carry out genocide in Gaza,” Tlaib stated. “It is a campaign to erase Palestinians from existence.”
The congresswoman, a member of the left-wing, progressive “Squad” in the U.S. House of Representatives, has a long history of anti-Israel statements. She has referred to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “war criminal” who has “threatened to ethnically cleanse the entire Palestinian population in Gaza, annex the land and permanently occupy it.”
Reps. André Carson (D-Ind.), Summer Lee (D-Pa.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.) and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) also sponsored the resolution.
“They failed. They lost the war. The nakba and great catastrophe is that Palestinians then and now continue to refuse peace and coexistence,” wrote Rabbi Elchanan Poupko, a writer and educator.
