On a recent podcast, Rep. Tlaib said this:
There's always kind of a calming feeling, I tell folks, when I think of the Holocaust, and the tragedy of the Holocaust, and the fact that it was my ancestors — Palestinians — who lost their land and some lost their lives, their livelihood, their human dignity, their existence in many ways, have been wiped out, and some people's passports. And just all of it was in the name of trying to create a safe haven for Jews, post-the Holocaust, post-the tragedy and the horrific persecution of Jews across the world at that time. And I love the fact that it was my ancestors that provided that, right, in many ways. But they did it in a way that took their human dignity away, and it was forced on them.
She was quickly criticized by President Trump among others. Then House Speaker Pelosi claimed that her statement was taken out of context and that the President should be the one to apologize. Pelosi is wrong.
It's true that, taken out of context, the first part of this gives the false impression that Tlaib said that the murder of Jews gives her a calming feeling. But Trump didn't repeat the quote in part or in all. He simply referenced it.
Tlaib was engaging in Holocaust revisionism. She was claiming that the Palestinians welcomed the Jews into Israel to escape the Holocaust. Lots of groups and countries do that to escape the guilt of having done nothing. The entire world including the US stood by and did nothing to help the millions who were murdered. In fact, the Arabs in general and the Palestinians in particular never welcomed the Jews.
But then Tlaib goes a step further and frames it as "we invited the Jews in and they took our land, our jobs, our dignity and our existence". So Holocaust Remembrance became an excuse to vilify Israel. And that's why Tlaib needs to apologize.
