jews in the d
Congresswoman-
elect Rashida
Tlaib (D-Mich.).
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Rashida Tlaib to
Lead Delegation to
Disputed Territories
Bills it as an ‘alternative to AIPAC.’
JACKIE HEADAPOHL MANAGING EDITOR
A
s her first act as Congress-
woman-elect, Rashida Tlaib, a
Democrat who will be repre-
senting Michigan’s 13th Congressional
District, a seat formerly held by John
Conyers, said she will lead a trip to the
West Bank for fellow incoming mem-
bers of Congress, in an interview with
The Intercept, an online news publica-
tion, published on Monday, Dec. 3.
The 13th District, which straddles
the city of Detroit and the western
Wayne County suburbs of Garden City
and Westland, is among the nation’s
poorest. (See related editorial, page 8.)
Tlaib also said she’d be skip-
ping a trip to Israel sponsored by
the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee, a pro-Israeli lobbying
group, typically scheduled for fresh-
men legislators during the first August
recess in every legislative session. The
trip features a weeklong tour of Israel
and meetings with leading Israeli
figures in business, government and
the military. The trip, according to
Tlaib, provides House members with a
distinctly pro-Israel viewpoint on com-
plex controversies in the region.
Tlaib, who is the first Palestinian-
American woman to be elected to
Congress, said she plans to draw on
her roots to provide an alternative to
the traditional AIPAC tour, which will
be led once again this year by incom-
ing Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer,
D-Md., according to his spokesperson.
Tlaib told The Intercept that her tour
will focus on issues “like Israel’s deten-
16
December 13 • 2018
jn
tion of Palestinian children, education,
access to clean water and poverty.
“I want us to see that segregation
and how that has really harmed us
being able to achieve real peace in
that region,” Tlaib said. “I don’t think
[the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee] provides a real, fair lens
into this issue. It’s one-sided. … [They]
have these lavish trips to Israel, but
they don’t show the side that I know is
real, which is what’s happening to my
grandmother and what’s happening to
my family there.”
Her tour may include a visit to Beit
Ur al-Foqa, the village where Tlaib’s
grandmother lives, in the northern
West Bank.
The details of the planned trip and
who will be joining her are pending.
During the interview, Tlaib also said
she supports the Boycott, Divestment
and Sanctions movement, an inter-
national boycott campaign known as
“BDS” that seeks to push back against
Israeli oppression of Palestinians.
Tlaib told The Intercept the boycotts
are a way to shine a light on “issues
like the racism and the international
human rights violations by Israel right
now.”
She is the second incoming member
to announce support for BDS, follow-
ing Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar.
The JN has reached out to both
Rashida Tlaib and AIPAC for com-
ment. Neither has responded. ■
JNS.org contributed to this story.