Thousands of Rabbis slam Tlaib resolution as 'openly antisemitic,' 'an indelible stain on Congress'

Thousands of rabbis condemned a resolution Palestinian Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) introduced calling for the commemoration of "the Nakba," translated from Arabic as "the catastrophe," which activists say happened with Israel's founding.

Tlaib's resolution is "openly antisemitic" and "an indelible stain on Congress," the Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), a group representing more than 2,000 rabbis, wrote in a press release.

"Arab armies responded to Israel’s founding with a call for genocide," CJV Israel Regional Vice President Rabbi Steven Pruzansky said, "and have continued with repeated wars and horrific acts of terrorism for the sole purpose of killing Jews and destroying the world’s only Jewish state. They proclaimed their intent in 1948 as a 'momentous massacre,' to kill all Jews in Israel as Hitler did in Germany, and what they call a 'Nakba' is that they fell 99% short of that obscene goal."

Nakba Day is observed on May 15, one day after Israel declared independence.

"The Israeli apartheid government’s ongoing ethnic cleansing seeks to degrade Palestinian humanity and break the will of the people to be free," Tlaib said in a press release.

Israel has rejected these accusations. Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan said they promote "hate, incitement, violence, and terror," during an interview with The Associated Press. He also claimed rights groups promoting the claims are launching "a jihad war against the only vibrant democracy in the Middle East."

CJV noted Tlaib has a "history of antisemitic remarks" in Congress.

 The organization's President Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld said "that the real catastrophe is that we have reached the point that this was introduced.

"This indelible stain on Congress is a direct result of the failure of its leaders to act against antisemitism as it festered over the past three years, and it is long overdue for the Speaker of the House of Representatives to not merely issue platitudes about antisemitism, but to lead the House in censuring those who voice it," he concluded.