President Joe Biden held an intense, eight-minute conversation with Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib on the tarmac in Dearborn, Michigan, on Tuesday, after she accused him ‘taking orders’ from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Palestinian-American Tlaib has been critical of Biden’s handling of the violence between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East.
On Twitter on Monday night she blasted Biden’s support of Netanyahu who ‘commits war crimes and openly violates international law.’
Biden has called for a cease fire in the region as the battle between Israel and Hamas enters day nine. The pair met after president touched down in Air Force One ahead of a trip to visit a Ford electric truck plant and tout his $2.3billion infrastructure plan.
While he has been pushing his big government spending spree, his administration has been dealing with the conflict in the Middle East, which has killed over 200 people and sparked a humanitarian crisis.
Biden shook the hand of Tlaib, the only Palestinian member of Congress who has family in the region, and the two engaged in a long conversation – out of earshot of cameras and with staff looking on. At one point Biden put his face mask on as he prepared to get into the presidential motorcade and then continued to speak to Tlaib.
During his remarks later in the day, Biden praised the congresswoman and shared his concerns for her relatives – including her 90-year-old grandmother and uncle – living in the small West Bank village of Beit Ur Al-Fauqa.
‘I admire your intellect, I admire your passion, I admire your compassion and I admire your concern for so many other people,’ Biden said. ‘I pray that your grandmom and family are well on the West Bank,’ he added. ‘You’re a fighter.’
President Joe Biden held an intense, nearly eight-minute long conversation with Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib on the tarmac when he arrived in Dearborn, Mich.; Rep. Debbie Dingell is with them
President Biden, with his arm around Rep. Debbie Dingell, spoke with Rep. Rashida Tlaib upon his arrival in Michigan to visit a Ford auto factory as he pushes his infrastructure deal
President Joe Biden shakes hands with Rep. Rashida Tlaib as he arrives in Michigan
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, seen with Rep. Debbie Dingell, declined to say what she and President Biden spoke about in their conversation
President Biden puts on his face mask as he prepares to get into the motorcade
Rep. Rashida Tlaib has been critical of President Joe Biden’s support for Israel; Rep. Debbie Dingell told reporters on the ground the three spoke of a lot of things
Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell was also there and told reporters on the ground the group talked about ‘a lot of things.’ Tlaib, a member of a progressive group of Democratic lawmakers known as ‘The Squad,’ didn’t say anything.
On Monday, Tlaib told MSNBC that Biden’s administration and other Democrats were ‘taking orders from Netanyahu, who is on corruption charges from stealing from his own people, the people he’s supposed to be representing.’
‘Enough, President Biden,’ Tlaib said. ‘You will not do this on our watch. You have to speak out against this violence in a very aggressive way that holds Netanyahu and his leadership accountable.’
Dingell is the widow of the late Rep. John Dingell, who was a close friend of Biden’s. She garnered a hug from the president.
On Monday night, Biden called for a cease fire in the Middle East but the bombardment continues.
Meanwhile, in a gaggle with reporters on Air Force One, Jen Psaki slammed Donald Trump’s handling of situation in the Middle East and called his Abraham Accords, for which Trump and Jared Kushner were nominated for a Noble Peace Prize, ‘dead on arrival.’
‘We are not following the same tactics of the prior administration,’ the White House press secretary said when asked repeatedly about the administration’s role in the conflict.
‘We felt there not a constructive action by the prior administration, aside from putting forward a peace proposal that was dead on arrival,’ Psaki said. ‘We don’t think they did anything constructive really to bring it into the long standing conflict in the Middle East.’
A total of 212 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including 61 children, since the conflict started last Monday. The IDF says that figure includes 120 members of Hamas and 25 members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
RASHIDA TLAIB’S PALESTINIAN ROOTS – AND THE GRANDMOTHER THAT SPEAKS TO HER THOUGH IPAD
Rashida Harbi Tlaib, born in Detroit, is the oldest of 14 children in a family of working class Palestinian immigrants.
She was raised in the US, with members of her father working on the assembly line in the Ford plant. Tlaib helped take care of her siblings while her parents worked.
But she still married a man from her ancestral village Beit Ur Al-Fauqa, where around one-third of the 900 residents are members of her extended family.
Her parents left the West Bank in 1975, the year before she was born, and settled in Michigan.
Her maternal grandmother Muftiya Tlaib, who is believed to be in her 90s, is still a resident of the sleepy community outside of Ramallah and 15 miles from Jerusalem
Her maternal grandmother Muftiya Tlaib, who is believed to be in her 90s, is still a resident of the sleepy community outside of Ramallah and 15 miles from Jerusalem.
Relatives live in a small, single-story home with a nearby olive grove and fig trees, that also falls in the shadow of an Israeli military checkpoint.
An Israeli highway cuts through the middle.
When she was elected to Congress in 2018 as the first representative of Palestinian descent, her family celebrated and hoped it would show they aren’t all terrorists.
Her uncle Bassam Abdualla Tlaib told NBC News: ‘This is going to change the American view about Arabs and Muslims. Now someone is going to change this point of view.’
In 2019 her family became the center of a global news frenzy when Donald Trump called Israel to block Rep. Tlaib from visiting her ailing grandmother because of her support for Palestinians.
Muftia Tlaib, the maternal grandmother of Rashida, and her uncle Bassam outside their home in the village of Beit Ur al-Fauqa, in the occupied West Bank in August 2019
They had planned a feast of sheep for the family when she arrived.
‘I’m happy that Rashida may come,’ her grandmother told the New York Times at the time. ‘But I hear they won’t let her.’
Her family told The Times she had last visited a decade earlier, but would keep in touch through video calls on an iPad and would catch her on TV.
In response to Trump’s comments, she decided against the visit.
She said: ‘In my attempt to visit Palestine, I’ve experienced the same racist treatment that many Palestinian-Americans endure when encountering the Israeli government.
‘In preparation for my visit, my grandmother was deciding which fig tree we would pick from together, while Palestinians and Israelis who are against the illegal military occupation were looking forward to Members of Congress finally listening to and seeing them for the first time.
‘The Israeli government used my love and desire to see my grandmother to silence me and made my ability to do so contingent upon my signing a letter – reflecting just how undemocratic and afraid they are of the truth my trip would reveal about what is happening in the State of Israel and to Palestinians living under occupation with United States support.
When she was elected to Congress in 2018 as the first representative of Palestinian descent, her uncle Bassam celebrated and hoped it would show they aren’t all terrorists
‘I have therefore decided to not travel to Palestine and Israel at this time. Visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions meant to humiliate me would break my grandmother’s heart. Silencing me with treatment to make me feel less-than is not what she wants for me – it would kill a piece of me that always stands up against racism and injustice.
‘This type of oppression is painful for all humanity, but it is especially painful for me personally every time I hear my loving family members cry out for the freedom to live and the right to feel human.
Tlaib poses with Nancy Pelosi and members of her family as she is sworn into Congress in 2019
President Joe Biden removes his face mask for his trip to Michigan, where he’ll talk infrastructure and electric cars
As President Biden touts his infrastructure plan, his administration is dealing with day nine of the Israel-Hamas conflict
Ten Israeli civilians, including a child, have been killed in rocket fire.
‘The President’s objective is clear,’ Psaki said, ‘which is that he wants to see an end to the violence on the ground.’
She refused to delve into detail about what the administration is doing to help end the conflict.
‘He’s been doing this long enough to know that the best way to end an international conflict is typically not to debate it in public,’ she said of Biden, ‘so we will continue to remain closely engaged behind the scenes.’
Meanwhile, Arab American advocates are planning three protests in Dearborn, Mich., when Biden is on the ground there, the Detroit Free Press reported.
Biden has proposed a $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan that includes $174 billion in funding for electric vehicles, charging stations, and incentives for consumer purchases.
‘The President is a longtime fan of cars,’ Psaki said. ‘His dad was a car dealer for many years.’
She added the president thinks ‘we should do everything we can from the United States government to support this industry, the backbone of many communities including Michigan and our country. The future of the industry is electric.’
He also wants to make the government’s fleet of vehicles electric.
Psaki was asked about Biden taking a fleet of gasoline guzzling SUVs to his visit to the plant. The motorcade that runs from the airport to the factory would have at least 20 vehicles in it, including the presidential ride know as ‘The Beast.’
‘That is certainly our objective,’ Psaki said when asked if ‘The Beast’ would ever be electric but noted it would take time.
‘I think it’s going to take some time to continue to grow the electric vehicle industry in our country. That’s why the president believes there needs to be a historic investment and certainly he’s talked about what we can do from the federal fleet as well,’ she said.
Blinken says Israel has sent ‘new intelligence’ about airstrike on Gaza media building ‘that housed Hamas’
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington had received information from Israel on the destruction of a building in Gaza used by media organizations, but offered no further details
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington had been given more information about Israel’s attack on a Gaza building that housed the offices of the Associated Press and Al Jazeera but refused to offer any more details on Tuesday.
President Joe Biden expressed his concerns for press freedom on Saturday after an Israeli airstrike destroyed the 12-story building, claiming it housed Hamas military intelligence.
AP’s leadership said it had yet to see any evidence and has demanded an independent investigation.
As Israel and the Palestinian territories braced for a day of protests and strikes, Blinken said Washington had asked for an explanation.
‘We did seek further information from Israel on this question,’ he said during a news conference with Iceland’s foreign minister in Reykjavik.
‘It’s my understanding that we’ve received some further information through intelligence channels, and it’s not something I can comment on.’
A day earlier, President Joe Biden shifted his public stance from defending Israel’s right to protect itself to calling for a ceasefire during a telephone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin.
Although Monday night passed without rockets being fired from Gaza, the Israeli Defense Force claimed it hit 65 Hamas targets.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Donald Trump, Bahrain Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani, and UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan wave from the Truman Balcony at the White House after they signed Abraham Accords on Sept. 15, 2020
Firefighters try to extinguish fire broke out Israeli warplanes hit paint warehouse in Rafah, Gaza
Explosions light-up the night sky above buildings in Gaza City as Israeli forces shell the Palestinian enclave in the early hours of Tuesday
The moment a Hamas ‘suicide submarine’ is obliterated in Gaza by an Israeli airstrike as Netanyahu defies Biden’s calls for a ceasefire and IDF says it has killed 150 terrorists on ninth day of conflict
Footage has revealed the moment a Hamas ‘suicide submarine’ drone was obliterated by an Israeli airstrike – and the crew operating it were ‘neutralised’ in their car – as bombardments on Gaza continue despite US calls for ceasefire.
Video taken from the air by Israeli aircraft on Monday shows two missiles smashing into the drone submarine and a huge explosion erupting in the shallow waters close to a tower block in northern Gaza.
Another piece of aerial footage then shows a car being tracked by overhead cross hairs before it is rocked by a blast which brings it to a swift and fiery halt. The IDF said the militants inside had launched the autonomous submarine.
Photographs of the car later showed its roof ripped open in a pattern which suggests a six-bladed ‘ninja’ missile was fired. The missiles are designed to cut through cars, killing targets with minimal collateral damage.
The Israeli Defence Forces did not specify what Hamas were planning to target with their explosive-laden submarine but they have previously fired rockets at naval vessels and oil rigs in the Mediterranean.
The vessels can be armed with up to 70 pounds of explosives and GPS tracking is used to direct them towards targets.
‘The submarine that was attacked was launched from the shore in Gaza,’ the military said. ‘It went a few meters deep and was directed at a target, which could have been an Israeli beach or Israel Navy boats.’
The IDF announced 65 Hamas targets were hit by air strikes last night as Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to ‘continue striking the terrorists’ despite Joe Biden’s calls for ceasefire amid a rising civilian death toll.
A total of 212 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including 61 children, since the conflict started last Monday. The IDF says that figure includes 120 members of Hamas and 25 members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Ten Israeli civilians, including a child, have been killed in rocket fire from the Strip.
The IDF last night said it blasted through more of ‘The Metro’, the militants’ underground network of tunnels and bunkers which are used as hideouts and for shipping weapons underneath the densely populated city.
Meanwhile Hamas fired 70 rockets – most of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome defence system.
At least two Israelis were killed and several more were seriously injured on Tuesday after a rocket from Gaza struck a factory in southern Israel – following several hours of relative calm this morning.
Photographs of the car later showed its roof ripped open in a pattern which suggests a six-bladed ‘ninja’ missile was fired. The missiles are designed to cut through cars, killing targets with minimal collateral damage
Palestinian firefighters douse a huge fire at the Foamco mattress factory following an Israeli airstrike, east of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip