NASHVILLE — U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Northwest Georgia, said Tuesday her effort to censure House Democrat Rashida Tlaib is struggling due to insufficient support from fellow Republicans.
“We need some more courage in Congress, and some of our Republican colleagues feel like they may not have the stomach to censure anti-Israel, anti-America, pro-Hamas, pro-terrorism Rashida Tlaib,” Greene said on conservative talk radio.
Greene had hoped to bring the censure action up Wednesday.
Republicans hold a narrow majority in the House, and Greene named three GOP lawmakers she said are not supporting her effort.
Greene brought the resolution after Tlaib, a Detroit native, Muslim and progressive of Palestinian descent, sharply criticized Israel’s actions in its war with the terrorist group Hamas. The war began with Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel in which an estimated 1,400 people died, according to Israeli officials. Israel counterattacked in Gaza, where more than 8,000 people have died, according to Palestinian officials.
Tlaib has come under criticism after she blamed Israel for an Oct. 17 hospital explosion. U.S. intelligence officials later said they had determined with “high confidence” that Israel was not responsible for the blast that killed dozens of people, which was caused by a rocket launched from inside Gaza that suffered mechanical failure in midflight before crashing into the hospital, The Washington Post has reported, citing unnamed U.S. officials.
(READ MORE: Political Notebook: Greene proposes one censure and is targeted by another)
Tlaib, who has not said she approved of Hamas’s actions in attacking Israel, blasted Greene last week after the Georgia lawmaker brought the resolution.
“Marjorie Taylor Greene’s unhinged resolution is deeply Islamophobic and attacks peaceful Jewish anti-war advocates,” Tlaib said. “I am proud to stand in solidarity with Jewish peace advocates calling for a ceasefire and an end to the violence.
“I will not be bullied, I will not be dehumanized and I will not be silenced,” Tlaib said. “I will continue to call for ceasefire, for the immediate delivery of humanitarian aid, for the release of hostages and those arbitrarily detained, and for every American to be brought home.”
Greene, first elected in 2020 and reelected last year, faces a censure motion herself, brought by U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, a Vermont Democrat. Balint cited what she said on the House floor was Greene’s record of “antisemitic, anti-LGBTQ, xenophobic and racist rhetoric and conspiracy theories.”
Balint read off some 40 actions or statements she said were made by the Georgia lawmaker both before Greene was in office and since her 2020 election. She characterized the statements as “years of lies and hate” from Greene.
‘Insurrection’
Greene’s motion calls for Tlaib to be censured for “antisemitic activity, sympathizing with terrorist organizations and leading an insurrection at the United States Capitol Complex.”
That was a reference to news coverage of hundreds of demonstrators entering the Cannon House office building Oct. 18, prompting the U.S. Capitol Police to temporarily close access to the building. Police arrested 300 protesters, three of whom were charged with assaulting a police officer, according to NBC News.
Newsweek reported a Capitol Police spokesperson Tuesday said it was “generally a peaceful demonstration.”
Greene said in the interview Tuesday she was “shocked” Monday night on a GOP conference call when several Republican members of Congress said they didn’t want to censure Tlaib. She named Reps. Tim Walberg, of Michigan, John Duarte from California and Rep. Young Kim from California.
She was particularly critical of Kim, who voted to remove Greene from House committees in 2021, charging Greene had trafficked in “antisemitic conspiracy theories.”
“Young Kim, I’d like to remind everyone, voted to kick me off of committees, yet somehow she feels uncomfortable voting to censure Democrat anti-Israel, pro-Hamas Rashida Tlaib,” Greene said. “So it seems like Republican Young Kim would rather stand with Rashida Tlaib than stand with me.”
(READ MORE: Tennessee, Georgia Republican representatives all backed Marjorie Taylor Greene)
Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-285-9480.