The first Palestinian-American elected to Congress, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., is blaming Israel for what apparently was an honor killing of a young Palestinian woman.
The 21-year-old woman from Bethlehem, Israa Ghraveb, died last week in a hospital bed where she was being treated for a spinal injury she sustained “jumping off the balcony of her family home, reportedly while fleeing male relatives,” reports Breaking Israel News.
The report said her family says she died of a heart attack “but in a video recorded outside her hospital room her screams and the shouts of her attackers are clearly heard.”
“Other sources, most notably the Palestinian Human Rights organization Adalah Justice Project, are claiming Israa was tortured and beaten to death by her male relatives in a case of femicide, or, as it is more commonly known an honor killing.”
Her “crime” reportedly was to have posted on social media a video of herself and her fiance.
Tlaib decried the murder in a tweet but she linked to an article that insists honor killings have nothing to do with Islam and blames the “Israeli military occupation and a corrupt Palestinian Authority.”
“Isra’s death illustrates an ever-present toxic masculinity and control over women’s bodies and lives.”
Help get #JusticeforIsraa by exposing the truth: https://t.co/YghpBO6l0V pic.twitter.com/QkrpBRx63h
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) September 1, 2019
“Isra’s death illustrates an ever-present toxic masculinity and control over women’s bodies and lives,” she wrote.
Her link was to the Palestinian feminist website Babyfist, BIN reported. The article was prefaced by a disclaimer about honor killings.
“Honor killings are not Muslim and they are not Arab. This is a universal phenomenon which takes places in nearly all corners of the globe, from the United States to Europe,” the article said. “The U.S. president stands accused of rape. Honor killings were legal in Italy until the 1970s and still happen today. Do not use this narrative to reinforce dangerous stereotypes of Arab culture and Islam. Patriarchy exists every where.”
However, BIN pointed out, 11 Palestinian women in the West Bank and nine in the Gaza Strip were suspected victims of honor killings last year. A North American study of 172 honor killings found 91 percent of the perpetrators were Muslim, and a study of European incidents found 96 percent of the perpetrators were Muslim.
But the Babyfist article cited the United Nations special rapporteur on violence against women claiming that there is a link between “prolonged occupation and gender-based violence.”
Tlaib previously blamed the death of a 17-year-old Jewish teen several weeks ago in a terrorist attack on Israel’s “occupation.”
This is absolutely tragic & horrible. My heart goes out to Rina’s family. More than ever we need to support nonviolent approaches to ending the Israeli occupation and guaranteeing equal rights for all. Extremism that puts innocent lives at risk moves us no closer to peace. https://t.co/lQ4qrYf6ig
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) August 24, 2019
“This is absolutely tragic & horrible. My heart goes out to Rina’s family. More than ever we need to support nonviolent approaches to ending the Israeli occupation and guaranteeing equal rights for all,” she wrote. “Extremism that puts innocent lives at risk moves us no closer to peace.”
Tlaib has been controversial since vowing to her supporters on election night last fall she would go to Washington to impeach the “m———–,” referring to President Trump.
Last month, she and U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., were barred from entering Israel because of their support for the Boycott, Divest and Sanction movement, or BDS.
The Michigan lawmaker posted on Twitter a video of her crying as she spoke to a small group of supporters about missing the opportunity to see her grandmother once last time in the Palestinian territories. But she failed to mention she had rejected Israel’s offered of a humanitarian visa to visit her family.
President Trump reacted to the video.
“Sorry, I don’t buy Rep. Tlaib’s tears,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “I have watched her violence, craziness and, most importantly, WORDS, for far too long. Now tears? She hates Israel and all Jewish people. She is an anti-Semite. She and her 3 friends are the new face of the Democrat Party. Live with it!”
