House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is for free speech but not hate speech.
Originally published by WND News Center. Used with permission.
McCarthy has canceled a planned anti-Semitic rally scheduled for the U.S. Capitol, declaring that as long as he’s running the House, “we are going to support Israel’s right to self-determination and self-defense.”
The Washington Free Beacon reported the anti-Semitic event had been announced by Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., a far-left member of the progressive “Squad” in Congress.
She had said she would hold an event with a multitude of anti-Israel groups, including some that have defended terrorism, the Free Beacon reported.
“Tlaib’s event was meant to celebrate the ‘Nakba,’ a Palestinian term for the creation of Israel that loosely translates as ‘catastrophe,’” the report said.
McCarthy torpedoed her plans by using his authority as speaker to reserve the meeting space she had planned to use.
McCarthy told the Free Beacon that he intervened to reserve the Capitol Visitor Center space where Tlaib was set to host a Wednesday event to mourn Israel’s founding as a ‘catastrophe,’” the report said.
Instead, a briefing that celebrates the 75th anniversary of the U.S.-Israel relationship was scheduled.
“It’s wrong for members of Congress to traffic in anti-Semitic tropes about Israel,” McCarthy told the Free Beacon. “As long as I’m speaker, we are going to support Israel’s right to self-determination and self-defense, unequivocally and in a bipartisan fashion.”
An organization of Jewish rabbis had asked for a statement condemning Tlaib’s scheme.
“It is unsurprising but appalling that the featured speaker at this event will be a member of Congress who describes the only Middle Eastern country to give equality and voting rights to both Jews and Arabs as ‘apartheid,’” said the Coalition for Jewish Values.
Tlaib’s event was to include organizations that oppose Israel’s very existence. They also support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, which the Free Beacon described as “an anti-Semitic effort to wage economic war on Israel.”
The New York Post said Tlaib had promoted her plan with the announcement, “May 15th marks 75 years since the beginning of the Nakba, which means ‘catastrophe.’ Seventy-five years ago, Zionist militias and the new Israeli military violently expelled approximately three-quarters of all Palestinians from their homes and homeland in what became the state of Israel.”
In fact, on its founding, Israel was forced immediately to defend itself militarily from attack from a multitude of Arab neighbors. It successfully established the only democracy in the Middle East.
Disclaimer: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.