By Tim Pearce
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) boosted supporters of a man that Israeli police say targeted law enforcement and injured one border guard enough to warrant a trip to a hospital.
Tlaib retweeted four statements from accounts accusing Israeli law enforcement of unjustly killing Ahmad Erekat, 27, on June 23 after he drove his car into a border checkpoint injuring one guard. Erekat was the nephew of Saeb Erekat, the secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
Tlaib also retweeted an interview of Rutgers assistant professor Noura Erakat with Democracy Now. The academic, who also claims to be Ahmad’s cousin, said that Ahmad was on his way to pick up his sister before her wedding. Nobody else was in the car with him at the time.
“What we understand is that Ahmed lost control of his car or was confused while he was in his car. That was all it took to have a knee-jerk reaction for the car to jerk a little bit and immediately cause the soldiers to open fire on him multiple times,” Noura said.
Israeli police released video of the incident a day after it happened. The security footage shows Ahmad’s vehicle proceeding slowly through the checkpoint before he accelerates, swerves, and strikes a female boarder guard, knocking her flying several feet. Ahmad then jumps out of his car and runs several steps before falling as other border guards shoot him. It is unclear when the border guards began firing their weapons or how many shots were fired.
Israel Police international spokesman Micky Rosenfeld called Ahmad a terrorist and said the 27-year-old had targeted the Israeli border guard in a vehicle attack. The Israeli guard injured in the attack was treated at a hospital for minor injuries, according to Rosenfeld.
Tlaib is vocal critic of Israel and has a documented history of backing anti-Semitic movements and people, and boosting unverified information that places Israel or Israelis in a bad light, making anti-Semitic gestures as well as defending openly anti-Semitic individuals. In January, the U.S. lawmaker retweeted a tweet from Hanan Ashrawi, a top Palestinian official, that falsely blamed Israeli citizens of throwing an 8-year-old child down a well. The child is thought to have drowned in a reservoir.
Tlaib later removed the tweet from her timeline and Ashrawi posted an apology for endorsing unverified information. Tlaib did not retweet the apology, according to The Times of Israel.
In August, Tlaib along with her colleague Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) shared the work of an anti-Semitic cartoonist. The image showed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump silencing the two congresswomen with the caption: “The more they try to silence us, our voices rise. The more they try to weaken us, the stronger we become. The more they try to discredit us, the truth prevails.”
Author: Tim Pearce