Flashback–Rashida Tlaib: ‘I’m More Palestinian in the Halls of Congress than I Am Anywhere in the World’

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (center), wearing a traditional Palestinian robe, takes the oath of off
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Both before and after she was elected to Congress, Democrat Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib has had no trouble finding herself at the center of immense controversy.

Earlier this year, while giving a speech at Marygrove College in Detroit, Tlaib claimed she is “more Palestinian in the halls of Congress than I am anywhere in the country, in the world.”

“Honestly I’ve never felt more Palestinian than I ever felt in Congress,” Tlaib said as she addressed the Michigan Coalition for Human Rights.

Tlaib added:

Even in Palestine when I’m visiting my grandmother, I’m more Amrikiin, American, to the Palestinians. But I’m more Palestinian in the halls of Congress than I am anywhere in the country, in the world. And that just tells you just the fact that they weren’t ready for us. They really weren’t.

Last August, after her primary win in Michigan, Tlaib spoke with HuffPost and asserted she was going to “humanize” and “be a voice for” Palestinians. She also stated her West Bank roots are “still very strong.”

HuffPost reported:

“I’m going to be a voice for them,” Tlaib said, lamenting the “walls and fences” that separate Palestinians and Israelis, “two people who have so much more in common.”

“I look forward to being able to humanize so many of them that have felt ‘less than’ for so long,” she added.

After Tlaib’s success in the primary last August, she was praised by Mohammed Tlaib, a distant relative and the former mayor of her ancestral village named Beit Our al-Foqa.

“It’s a great honor for this small town. It’s a great honor for the Palestinian people to have Rashida in the Congress,” former village Mayor Tlaib stated. “For sure she will serve Palestine, for sure she will serve the interests of her nation. She is deeply rooted here.”

As reported Sunday by Breitbart News Washington Political Editor Matthew Boyle, “A video of then-former-State Rep. Rashida Tlaib being forcibly ejected from a speech then-candidate now-President Donald Trump gave to the Detroit Economic Club has resurfaced in the wake of President Trump’s feud with the “Squad,” of which she is a leading member.”

During a speech at a One Fair Wage event on Sunday, Tlaib called for a $20 minimum wage, a split from her progressive colleaques who frequently demand $15 per hour.

“It should be $20 an hour, $18 to $20 at this point,” Tlaib said in reference to the minimum wage.

Follow Kyle on Twitter @RealKyleMorris and Facebook.

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