Statement from Congressman Dan Goldman on Vote to Censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib

“The First Amendment protects free speech – including hate speech – for all, including members of Congress. But as elected officials held to the highest integrity, we are bestowed with the public trust that confers a greater responsibility with the words we choose. We therefore must not promote hate speech nor incite violence with our comments.

“During the past month, Representative Tlaib promoted misinformation that inflamed violence around the world, including against United States embassies, and used a hurtful antisemitic trope central to Hamas’s charter – “from the river to the sea” – that is widely understood to call for the elimination of Israel and all of the Jews living there. This expression has been widely used in support of violent protests against Israel around the world.

“I reached out to Representative Tlaib privately in advance of Representative McCormick’s introduction of the censure resolution to communicate to her the hurt and harm her words have caused and how they have been received by many in the Jewish community. I urged her to make a public clarification, but she refused.

“Just like we cannot allow public officials to make racist statements against any group nor to incite violence through racist speech, we cannot allow elected officials to do the same against Jews.

“For these reasons, I voted to censure Representative Tlaib, and will do so in the future for any member who uses discriminatory hate speech against any group – including the Muslim community – and inflames violence with false statements or misinformation.”

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