Thread by @theIMEU

THREAD: Dana @Milbank has published a piece in the Washington Post baselessly accusing Congresswoman @RashidaTlaib, along with the BDS movement, of antisemitism. Here is a list of everything he gets wrong:

1) Milbank goes after Tlaib for calling Israel’s policies “apartheid” & “racist.” But Tlaib’s description is not only 100% accurate, it’s also shared by anti-apartheid icon Desmond Tutu, & documented by renowned human rights groups like Human Rights Watch: hrw.org/report/2021/04…

2) Noting the shared struggle of the oppressed around the world, Congresswoman Tlaib said that the powerful, from Gaza to Detroit, exploit the poor & the oppressed for profit. Without a shred of evidence, Milbank suggested she was talking about Jews. She wasn’t.

3) Rep. Tlaib has stated factually that those who support Israel’s oppression of Palestinians want to police her words. Milbank proves her point by absurdly blaming Tlaib’s comments for causing antisemitic violence. Of course, they didn’t.

4) Milbank claims “anti-Israel protests” led to a surge in “anti-Jewish violence and harassment.” But the ADL report he cites has been documented to count disputed incidents as well as anti-Zionist slogans that aren’t antisemitic in this reported surge: jewishcurrents.org/a-closer-look-…

5) Milbank baselessly claims the pro-Palestinian BDS movement “provoked a wave of antisemitic incidents on U.S. campuses.” In reality, BDS is only about accountability for Israeli human rights violations, & is explicitly opposed to all forms of racism, including antisemitism.

6) Milbank accuses Tlaib of invoking the “antisemitic trope of dual loyalty” when she accused Senators who supported an unconstitutional effort to restrict free speech of forgetting what country they represent. This accusation is absurd for 2 reasons:

A) The statement was not in any way aimed at Jewish Senators (in fact, the effort she was criticizing was led by Senator Marco Rubio). B) The context clearly refers to the Senators forgetting about the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution, & has nothing to do with “dual loyalty.”

7) Milbank then draws a conclusion from his flawed claims that Tlaib is “driving a wedge” between Jews and other progressives. But Tlaib has always been a uniting figure among progressives, embracing diversity & bringing people together.

8) When Milbank & others direct false accusations of antisemitism at defenders of Palestinian human rights, they aren’t just smearing principled people, they are also undermining the real struggle against the serious & rising scourge of antisemitism.