Tlaib Apologizes For Deleting Tweet Falsely Accusing Israel Of Killing Palestinian Boy

The lawmaker resolved to stick to her anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetorical guns – though she has not specifically ruled out non-rhetorical ones.

Washington, January 28 – A Congresswoman who shared a false online post regarding a Palestinian child, according to which Israeli authorities kidnapped and murdered him,when in fact the boy had fallen into water and drowned, posted again today to express remorse for taking down the false tweet, and vowed not to let such removal happen again.

Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) retweeted a Twitter post about eight-year-old Qusai Abd Abu Ramileh of Jerusalem, who went missing over the weekend, to the effect that he had been kidnapped, and later deleted her tweet when news reports came to light that the boy had slipped and fallen into a rain-filled ditch, and that Israeli police had taken a leading role in the search and rescue attempts. An online furor erupted over Ms. Tlaib’s doing so without comment, a furor that led this morning to the Congresswoman posting again that she will henceforth demonstrate more care online to avoid removing material that makes Israel look evil, regardless of its veracity or lack thereof.

“I would like to apologize for deleting my tweet about the poor Palestinian boy Qusai Abd Abu Ramileh,” she tweeted this morning (Monday). “In the emotion of the uproar and the moment I rushed to take measures that I now see were in error, and regret.” A later tweet reaffirmed the lawmaker’s resolve to stick to her anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetorical guns – though she has not specifically ruled out non-rhetorical ones for this purpose – even when such rhetoric arouses intense opposition.

Aides to the Congresswoman explained that the heightened tension of the atmosphere in Washington surrounding the presidential impeachment proceedings had contributed to the ill-advised deletion. “Rashida has a lot on her political plate, as you can imagine,” noted Jiffa Sharmuta. “It’s not just the excitement and intensity of the impeachment itself; Rashida, remember, was the one who, to celebrate her election to office, yelled, ‘Let’s impeach the mother******!’ So she’s personally tied to what’s going on to an extent that many of her colleagues are not, and she can get preoccupied. We’ll all try to help her be more careful, but nobody’s perfect.”

“Fortunately, our public has been very understanding since the apology,” added fellow aide Madj Nouna. “It’s rare for accusations of Israeli brutality and depravity to go unchallenged by Hasbara trolls who insist on bringing up irrelevant factors such as ‘evidence’ and ‘facts.’ We’ve all encountered it, so we all have sympathy for Rashida.”

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