Representative Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member of Congress, was attacked Monday for supposedly claiming that Michigan’s attorney general is going after pro-Palestinian protesters solely because she’s Jewish. The only problem is, Tlaib never said anything of the sort.

Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, posted on X Monday addressing Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer while alleging that Tlaib had made an antisemitic statement about Attorney General Dana Nessel. Nessel is pursuing charges against pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Michigan, alleging some had assaulted police officers and engaged in ethnic intimidation.

In his post, Greenblatt linked an article published by Jewish Insider Sunday, which discussed an interview of Whitmer earlier that day on CNN. Host Jake Tapper had asked Whitmer to respond to Tlaib’s so-called argument that Nessel was “only doing it because she’s Jewish.” It’s unclear what Tapper’s source was for such a claim.

Whitmer declined to respond, saying, “I’m not going to get in the middle of this argument that they’re having.”

  • @jordanlund
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    53 months ago

    Oho, I see the problem. See the interview here:

    https://www.metrotimes.com/news/tlaib-slams-nessel-for-targeting-pro-palestinian-students-at-u-m-a-dangerous-precedent-37343930

    This bit:

    "“We’ve had the right to dissent, the right to protest,” Tlaib says. “We’ve done it for climate, the immigrant rights movement, for Black lives, and even around issues of injustice among water shutoffs. But it seems that the attorney general decided if the issue was Palestine, she was going to treat it differently, and that alone speaks volumes about possible biases within the agency she runs.”

    Nessel is the first Jewish person to be elected Attorney General of Michigan."

    So it wasn’t Tlaib saying the religion of the AG was an issue, Tlaib stated it points to “possible biases” in the AGs office, the author of the article, or perhaps their editor, inserted the line perhaps to clarify which bias Tlaib was talking about.

    Factcheck article from the same source here endorsing that idea:

    https://www.metrotimes.com/news/fact-check-tlaib-did-not-say-nessel-charged-pro-palestinian-protesters-because-shes-jewish-37427661

    • @LinkerbaanOP
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      13 months ago

      The source of the problem is that CNN can’t read?

      Doesn’t explain them doubling down after they were called out on their lies.

      • @jordanlund
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        13 months ago

        Somebody sure couldn’t read, or identify where the direct quote ended and the reporter/editors stance began.

        More likely Tapper and Bash were fed the line by some off screen staffer who also didn’t read it. I don’t see on-air personalities doing their own research on stuff like this.