U.S. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib retweeted a vile lie-filled post by Palestinian politician Hanan Ashrawi that bears all of the hallmarks of a classic anti-Semitic “blood libel.”
By United with Israel Staff
U.S. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib’s hate for Israel knows no bounds. Rather than thanking Israeli emergency personnel for making every effort to find a lost seven-year-old Arab boy named Qusai Abd Abu Ramileh, Tlaib retweeted on Saturday a false post by Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official known for spreading lies about the Arab-Israeli conflict.
With zero evidence, Ashrawi falsely claimed that Israelis had kidnapped and murdered the child, a common anti-Semitic canard called a “blood libel” that dates back to the ancient Greeks, but was popularized in medieval Europe.
Blood libels remain standard fare among rabid Jew-haters in modern times.
With regard to the blood libel Tlaib retweeted, the Palestinian boy went missing Friday. Tragically, Israeli emergency services found his lifeless body after he drowned in a cistern in the Arab village of Beit Hanina, outside of Jerusalem.
Afterward, pro-Palestinian social media accounts published outlandish lies about the boy’s heartbreaking death.
Tlaib, who has over 898,000 Twitter followers, retweeted a false claim from Ashrawi that stemmed from a Twitter account called “realSeifBitar.” The false post read, “KIDNAPPED & EXECUTED 7 year old #Palestinian child Qusai was kidnapped by a Herd of violent #Israeli settlers, assaulted & thrown in a water well was found this morning frozen to death in Beit Hanina, #Jerusalem after #Israeli forces assaulted search teams.”
Ashrawi added, “The heart just shatters. The pain is unbearable. No words.”
When the lies were exposed, Ashrawi merely responded, “My apologizes for re-tweeting something that’s not fully verified. It seems that the news of his being kidnapped is not certain.”
She has since removed the post in its entirety.
Tlaib also removed her retweet, without apologizing or even acknowledging that she spread anti-Semitic propaganda.
The original post had been viewed by over 125,000 before it was removed from Twitter.
Notorious British Israel-hater and retired politician George Galloway, who has more than 340,000 Twitter followers, also spread the lies.
Here is Jew-hater in chief @GeorgeGalloway using the tragic death of a young Palestinian boy to stir up hate. Sadly Abu Ramileh drowned in a tragic accident but to George its just another opportunity to incite his followers
https://t.co/3Lly19qKNr pic.twitter.com/n3qtMBv57p
— SussexFriendsofIsrael (@SussexFriends) January 25, 2020
Avi Kaner, a Jewish business leader in the U.S., tweeted, “There must be consequences for anti-Semitism in our nation’s highest governmental body.” He joined others in calling the tweets a “blood libel.”
Wtf? Congresswomen @RashidaTlaib just retweeted a false blood libel against the Jewish people. @TheDemocrats @GOP what is going on in Congress? There must be consequences for anti-Semitism in our nation’s highest governmental body. pic.twitter.com/3ZLnHwCCNX
— Avi Kaner (@AviKaner) January 25, 2020
i24 TV news anchor, Eylon Levy tweeted:
Three layers of what for now appears to be a blood libel. From a faceless activist to a Palestinian government official to a US Congresswoman to a global audience of 898,000 followers. pic.twitter.com/spGwJAp5RT
— Eylon Levy (@EylonALevy) January 25, 2020