Hoyer Statement on Vote Against the Resolution to Censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib

WASHINGTON, DC — Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05) issued the following statement tonight after voting against the Republican resolution to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (MI-12): 

“As the past few weeks have reminded us, the cancer of antisemitism still metastasizes in America and around the world. We each have a responsibility to end this hate. During this traumatic time, we must reaffirm Israel’s absolute right to exist as a democratic Jewish state and to defend its people. There must be no doubt or equivocation: Jews have the right to live safely in their ancestral homeland. Standing up for that principle is crucial now more than at any point since the modern State of Israel was founded 75 years ago. The Palestinian people also have the right to a state, but we can never achieve that goal until Hamas ceases to exist and the violence it perpetrates stops once and for all.

“Although I strongly disagree with the substance of the comments made by Rep. Rashida Tlaib, I joined a bipartisan group of House Members in voting against her censure today. The passage of this measure sets a dangerous precedent that could start an endless cycle of political derision and recrimination – regardless of who controls the majority.

“My vote was not a defense of the sentiment Rep. Tlaib shared. Since 1948, the phrase ‘from the river to the sea’ has been a rallying cry for those who deny the State of Israel’s right to exist. The saying calls for the complete destruction of a state that the UN established seventy-five years ago as a place of security, safety, and freedom for Jews after millennia of antisemitic prejudice, hate, and violence.

“We must defend the principle that in America, we are free to express our opinions – even if they’re alien, wrong, and objectionable. Indeed, there are Members across the aisle who say things I find objectionable and offensive every week. We have a constitutional right to speak our mind, but truth and good judgement should be our guide and lead us neither to inflame nor to incite.”