Rashida Tlaib Calls On Israel To Release The Body Of A Woman Who Tried To Kill Israeli Troops

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Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., at a House Financial Services Committee hearing, July 20, 2021. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib called for Israel to return the body of a woman who was killed while she attempted to kill Israeli soldiers.

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In a Twitter thread on Saturday, Tlaib, one of Israel’s harshest critics in Congress, slammed Israel for its policy of holding onto the bodies of assailants who are killed during an attack.

“Meet Mai Afana’s mother, Khuloud, who is fighting to be able to bury her daughter & begin her healing,” wrote Tlaib, a Palestinian American. “Mai was a mother, loving daughter & successful PhD student. She was killed by the Israeli government last June. Israel won’t release her body to her family.”

Attached to the tweet is a photo of Afana’s mother holding up a poster of her daughter.

Afana was killed on June 16. The Israeli military said at the time that she had rammed her car into a West Bank checkpoint near Jerusalem and then, holding a knife, had rushed the soldiers at the checkpoint. An Israeli soldier was lightly injured in the attack.

Israel routinely holds bodies of assailants as a means of bargaining for live Israeli captives and the bodies of Israelis held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Tlaib does not in her Twitter thread explain the background to Afana’s death except for an apparent allusion to her belief that the army had not made its case against Afana, saying that bodies are held “without proof.”

“I am sharing Mai’s story because I began to only learn last year of this inhumane practice by the Israeli govt,” Tlaib wrote. “Without proof, they make claims, and all to just continue to dehumanize Palestinians even after they have died. We must stand against this form of collective violence.”

Tlaib also does not address the underlying rationale for the policy — Hamas’ refusal to return Israeli bodies and captives. She does link to a Human Rights Watch report condemning Israel for holding another Palestinian’s body; that report mentions Israel’s rationale for holding the bodies and condemns Hamas as well.

“The Palestinian people deserve the same dignity as any other human being,” Tlaib wrote. “To deny the right to see their loved ones for a modicum of closure is another form of painful violence from the U.S. sponsored, Israeli arsenal. Mai’s dead body is one of hundreds being held.”

Tlaib is one of a handful of progressive Democrats who back the boycott Israel movement and who during the Israel-Hamas conflict in May called for a cut in funding to Israel. She is the only member of Congress who says she believes Israel should not exist as a Jewish state.


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26 Comments
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lipa99
lipa99
2 years ago

let Hamas return the bodies of soldiers “they” killed and the live Israelis they’re holding.

Democrats always back the islamic terrorists.
Democrats always back the islamic terrorists.
2 years ago

Terrorist supporting Jew hater, fully supported and defended by all elected democrats. The democrats party is the party of terrorist supporters and Jew haters.

Just my two cents
Just my two cents
2 years ago

My suggestion?
Return the body of the dead drek, and ship the body of the live drek, Tlaib, on the condition that she stay there .

Zvi TUSK
Zvi TUSK
2 years ago

The British in colonial India had the right idea. They would return the bodies of the Moslem rebels preserved in lard. This broke the rebellion.

JacquB
JacquB
2 years ago

She does not appear to be aware that the Arabs do not return bodies of Jewish or, even, Israelis who are not Jewish without getting backshesh or something in return. This is the only currency they accept….terrorists & crooks, dead or alive!

Marcia
Marcia
2 years ago

Get her out of America, if she feels so badly for the Palis, let her live amongst them.

Triumpinwhitehouse
Triumpinwhitehouse
2 years ago

This is what happens when AIPAC is just a hack filled patronage for the likes of JASON KOPPEL the chief of Staff of a criminal named Carl Kruger

C L
C L
2 years ago

“The Israeli military said at the time that she had rammed her car into a West Bank checkpoint near Jerusalem and then, holding a knife, had rushed the soldiers at the checkpoint.”

Any video or bodycam footage confirming that she indeed “attacked” the Israeli soldiers present? The dead woman conveniently isn’t around to give her side of the story.

Of course they always claim that the dead Palestinian violently attacked soldiers first. The police in this country always claim the same exact thing. But is it always true?

CudahyKid
CudahyKid
2 years ago

This should not happen on either side.
Bereaved families need the closer of burying a loved one
And stop attacking Rep. Rashida Tlaib. Would you react in the same way if a Jewish legislator said confrontational comments?

Last edited 2 years ago by CudahyKid