The nonpartisan Coolidge Reagan Foundation has urged the State Bar of Michigan to investigate and sanction Representative Rashida Tlaib, who represents Michigan’s 13th congressional district, over her controversial antisemitic remarks.
Dan Backer, counsel for the legal group, spoke to Fox News Digital about the move, asserting that people should be held accountable for spreading “vile, antisemitic lies to foster hatred towards a people.”
Backer argues that the rhetoric spread by Tlaib, who is an attorney in Michigan, “clearly violated” the Michigan bar’s ethics code.
The foundation’s underlying concern, as stated by Backer, is a perceived lack of accountability for individuals engaging in harmful behavior. He believes that one way to address this issue is by “putting cameras on people’s faces” to deter them from wrongdoing.
The complaint filed by the Coolidge Reagan Foundation specifically cites Tlaib’s comments regarding the actions of the terrorist group Hamas on Oct. 7 that led to the death of about 1,400 Israelis.
The complaint reads, “In response to these atrocities, Attorney Tlaib made several public statements evincing deeply discriminatory, antisemitic views that call into question her character and fitness to practice law.”
Tlaib has previously faced criticism for her stance on Israel and her use of the phrase “from the river to the sea,” which some interpret as promoting violence against Jews.
In light of these developments, the Coolidge Reagan Foundation’s complaint requests that the State Bar of Michigan “initiate an investigation and impose appropriate sanctions against an attorney who spreads anti-Semitic propaganda and lies in support of an officially designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.”
The call to investigate and sanction Tlaib comes after she was censured in the House as part of the blowback she received from her anti-Israel remarks.
Despite the criticism she has gotten from both sides of the political aisle, Tlaib has not issued an apology for her use of the contentious phrase. Instead, she has insisted that the phrase represents an “aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence.”
From the river to the sea is an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate. My work and advocacy is always centered in justice and dignity for all people no matter faith or ethnicity.
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) November 3, 2023
When asked last week by Fox News’ Hillary Vaughn if she regretted using the phrase, Tlaib refused to reply.
