U.S. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) is in the spotlight once again for her anti-Israel activism. The freshman Muslim lawmaker who wrapped herself in the Palestinian flag to celebrate her election victory in November 2018, and has a number of anti-Semitic ties, recently traveled across the country to support an academic boycott of Israel at a California college.

Tlaib is a member of the Facebook group “Palestinian American Congress,” where members often demonize Jews. The group’s founder, Palestinian activist Maher Abdel-qader, was a key fundraiser for Tlaib and organized campaign events for her around the country.

In January 2018, Abdel-qader shared an anti-Semitic video that claimed Jews aren’t actually Jewish, and invented their historical claim to Israel and secretly control the media.

The video, which described Jews as “satanic,” also questioned whether 6 million Jews actually died in the Holocaust.

Tlaib has been a member of the Facebook group since February 2018 when Abdel-qader added her, according to Facebook. The group has a little over 11,000 members.

Abdel-qader took credit on Facebook for organizing fundraisers for Tlaib among Arab-Americans, pulling in hundreds of thousands of dollars for her campaign. Photos he’s posted on social media show him speaking at Tlaib campaign events.

Palestinian-American professor Amer Zahr, a supporter of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, appeared at campaign events and also attended Tlaib’s swearing-in ceremony. Zahr posted a Facebook video he recorded from Tlaib’s office to show that he had re-labeled Israel as “Palestine” on a map hanging in the office.

In Rashida Tlaib’s office today, we realized that there was something wrong with the map. So, I fixed it. Rashida Tlaib For Congress #Palestine #FreePalestine #WeAreOnTheMap #Congress #Rashida #RashidaTlaib

https://www.facebook.com/amer.zahr/videos/vb.2223645/10111008515992523/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

An article recounting the label change received positive reactions when shared within the “Palestinian American Congress” group that Tlaib belongs to on Facebook.

One group member commented: “They will be wiped off the map soon inshallah [God willing].”

Tlaib previously came under fire after posing for a picture with Palestinian activist Abbas Hamideh, a supporter of Hezbollah who believes Israel shouldn’t exist, at her swearing-in ceremony.

The left-leaning Anti-Defamation League demanded an explanation from Tlaib, who told the Detroit Free Press on Friday that she didn’t know who Hamideh is.

Nine months before the controversy, in April 2018, Tlaib posted a picture of herself and Hamideh on Facebook.

Tlaib also questioned in a tweet whether Republicans who support anti-BDS legislation “forgot what country they represent.” Tlaib supports the BDS movement, which has often overlapped with anti-Semitic causes.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and other Republicans accused Tlaib of questioning Jewish-Americans’ loyalty to their country, though Tlaib insisted there was no anti-Semitic intent to the tweet.

Now, the Michigan Muslim lawmaker has taken her anti-Israel fight to California, where she’s standing side-by-side with a liberal professor who led the fight to keep students at California’s Pitzer College from studying abroad in Israel.

According to Washington Free Beacon -Students and faculty of California’s Pitzer College voted Thursday to suspend the study abroad partnership with Israel’s University of Haifa, but college president Melvin Oliver is declining to take any action on the program, calling it an “academic boycott of Israel.”

The anti-Israel proposal, backed by radical leftist groups and Democratic congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, won the support of the Pitzer College Council in a Thursday vote taken by both students and faculty. Oliver says the vote amounts only to a recommendation to the president and is declining to take it.

Oliver made numerous arguments against the proposal in a Thursday message to the academic community, including that it was “prejudiced” against Israel, would “curtail academic freedom,” and that it is not the school’s role to take political positions.

“Although some claim that this is not an academic boycott of Israel, I disagree,” Oliver wrote. “The recommendation puts in place a form of academic boycott of Israel and, in the process, sets us on a path away from the free exchange of ideas, a direction which ultimately destroys the academy’s ability to fulfill our educational mission. I categorically oppose any form of academic boycott of any country.”

Oliver said the “prejudiced” action against Israel would cause irreparable harm to Pitzer’s reputation.

“By singling out Israel, the recommendation itself is prejudiced,” he wrote. “The reputational harm to the College would be irreparable and as president of this institution, I cannot permit that to happen.”

The University of Haifa’s president also spoke out against the proposal, pointing out the diversity at the school, which has a large number of Arabs in both the student body and faculty.

Dan Segal, a far-left professor who led the charge for the anti-Israel proposal and met with Tlaib to discuss it, said Oliver showed his “deeply personal commitment to protect Israeli apartheid” with his decision.

While America’s attention is on Rep.Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Congress’ attempts to censure her for multiple anti-Semitic remarks, Michigan Representative Rashida Tlaib is traveling to the West Coast to help a far-left professor fight to keep students from studying abroad in Israel.

 

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