The CEO of the left-leaning Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has called on Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI-13) to apologize for spreading false allegations that Israelis kidnapped and murdered an eight-year-old Palestinian boy.
As The Michigan Star reported, Tlaib retweeted a comment from Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee, who spread claims that the boy was “kidnapped by a herd of violent Israeli settlers, assaulted and thrown in a water well.”
The Times of Israel later reported that the boy apparently slipped and drowned in a reservoir of rainwater.
“My apologies for retweeting something that’s not fully verified,” Ashrawi wrote on Twitter after deleting her initial tweet. “It seems the news of his being kidnapped is not certain.”
According to The Jerusalem Post, relatives of the boy initially claimed to have security footage showing him being kidnapped, but the boy’s father later said that it wasn’t actually his son in the footage.
Tlaib’s retweet of Ashrawi has been removed, but she has yet to offer an apology or share Ashrawi’s clarification.
“This is an example of how the blood libel works in 2020,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt wrote on Twitter Sunday. “Rashida Tlaib retweets a vicious lie steeped in centuries-old accusations used to demonize Jews, then says nothing when it’s disproven. An apology is overdue.”
This is an example of how the blood libel works in 2020. @RashidaTlaib retweets a vicious lie steeped in centuries-old accusations used to demonize Jews, then says nothing when it's disproven. An apology is overdue.https://t.co/s8n97T0CVB
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) January 26, 2020
Greenblatt, a former Obama administration official, has been accused by Jewish conservatives of turning a blind eye to anti-Semitism on the left. A 2019 article from The Daily Caller noted that the ADL remained silent after one of Tlaib’s key fundraisers promoted anti-Semitic conspiracy theories on social media.
Dani Dayan, consul general of Israel in New York, also broke his silence after the latest controversy.
“I am always extremely cautious in criticizing U.S. elected officials,” he said on Twitter. “However when an American elected official retweets an unfounded blood libel against Jewish Israelis, I cannot remain silent. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib just did.”
Tlaib is one of the most outspoken critics of Israel in Congress and is a supporter of the anti-Israel BDS movement. She and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) are frequent targets of President Donald Trump, who called them anti-Semites during a recent rally.
The Israeli government barred both congresswomen from traveling to the country in August because of their “suspected provocations and promotion of BDS.”
The Federalist reported Monday that Ashrawi is the founder of the anti-Semitic organization MIFTAH, which offered to sponsor Tlaib and Omar’s trip to Israel.
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of The Minnesota Sun and The Ohio Star. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Jonathon Greenblatt” by Jonathon Greenblatt.
