House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday foiled Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s attempt to host an event at the Capitol with anti-Israel groups that decry the founding of the Jewish state as a “catastrophe.”
“This event in the US Capitol is canceled,” McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced in a tweet on Tuesday. “Instead, I will host a bipartisan discussion to honor the 75th anniversary of the US-Israel relationship.”
Tlaib (D-Mich.), a member of the far-left “Squad” of congressional lawmakers, had planned to host an event with nine anti-Israel groups at the Capitol Visitor Center on Wednesday titled “Nakba 75 & the Palestinian People.”
“Nakba” — which means “catastrophe” — is the Arabic term for the events surrounding the founding of Israel.
“It’s wrong for members of Congress to traffic in anti-Semitic tropes about Israel,” McCarthy told the Washington Free Beacon, which first reported on Tlaib’s event. “As long as I’m speaker, we are going to support Israel’s right to self-determination and self-defense, unequivocally and in a bipartisan fashion.”
McCarthy noted that he intervened late Tuesday to reserve the space where Tlaib’s event was slated to be held.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said the event in the US Capitol was canceled via an announcement on Twitter. Getty ImagesThe description for Tlaib’s event read: “May 15th marks 75 years since the beginning of the Nakba, which means ‘catastrophe.’ Seventy-five years ago, Zionist militias and the new Israeli military violently expelled approximately three-quarters of all Palestinians from their homes and homeland in what became the state of Israel.”
The organizers of the event also said they hope to educate members of Congress and their staffs on the “ongoing Nakba to which Israel continues to subject Palestinians.”
One of the groups behind the event, Jewish Voice for Peace, is described by the Anti-Defamation League as a “radical anti-Israel activist group that advocates for a complete economic, cultural and academic boycott of the state of Israel” and that “celebrates figures who have been convicted of engaging in terrorism.”
Instead of Rep. Rashida Tlaib hosting her event, McCarthy said he would host a bipartisan discussion to honor the 75th anniversary of the US-Israel relationship. Getty Images
McCarthy said he intervened on Tuesday to reserve the space where Tlaib’s event was supposed to be. Getty ImagesLiora Rez, the executive director of the nonprofit group StopAntisemitism, told The Post on Monday that another group behind the event, the Institute for Middle East Understanding, is “one of the top propagators of false anti-Israel rhetoric on social media.”
It’s unclear if Tlaib’s event will be rescheduled.
Her office did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
