BREAKING: Lawfare Project files ethics complaint against Rep. Rashida Tlaib
Yesterday, The Lawfare Project filed a complaint against Rep. Rashida Tlaib with the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE). The complaint, which appears below, asserts that Tlaib directly violated Rule 1 of the U.S. House of Representatives' Code of Official Conduct by publishing a statement on her X (formerly Twitter) account that falsely and recklessly accuses the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) of being responsible for the recent deadly attack on a hospital in Gaza.
Despite compelling evidence showing that the terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) was in fact responsible for the attack, and President Joe Biden along with the White House National Security Council also attributing blame to PIJ, Tlaib has not deleted her social media post nor apologized for spreading dangerous disinformation. Instead, she spoke at a pro-Hamas rally where she doubled down on the lie and has refused to retract it. This modern-day blood libel has sparked rioting across the Arab world and has been used to justify demonstrations supporting Hamas on U.S. college campuses and beyond.
The Lawfare Project's complaint calls upon the OCE to immediately launch an investigation into Tlaib and to refer the matter to the House Committee on Ethics. Please contact your Representatives in the House and demand that they call for an investigation into Rep. Rashida Tlaib.
*TEXT OF COMPLAINT BEGINS BELOW*
Re: Submission to the Office of Congressional Ethics re. Rep. Rashida Tlaib
October 19, 2023
To Whom It May Concern:
This letter serves as a submission to the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) regarding Representative Rashida Tlaib. It concerns a statement by Rep. Tlaib (the “Statement”), published on her X (formerly known as Twitter) social media account on October 17, 2023, in which she falsely and recklessly accused the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) of being responsible for the recent deadly attack on the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza. Specifically, the Statement says:
“Israel just bombed the Baptist Hospital killing 500 Palestinians (doctors, children, patients) just like that.”
Contrary to Rep. Tlaib’s allegation, an investigation and evidence provided by the IDF has shown that it was not responsible for the blast, and that Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) — a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) — was instead responsible. President Joe Biden and the White House National Security Council have also attributed blame to PIJ.
Following Rep. Tlaib’s baseless and premature accusation, which was broadcast to her more than 1.4 million followers on X and the public at large, the mainstream media has reported violent protests against Israel and the United States throughout the Arab world, including attempts to storm the Israeli embassies in Jordan and Turkey and the U.S. embassy in Lebanon. At the same time, as a result of the disinformation propagated by Rep. Tlaib and others, a new wave of antisemitic vitriol has erupted online, with countless social media posts and articles repeating the false claim against Israel.
Despite the evidence exculpating Israel, Rep. Tlaib has not deleted the Statement from her X account and has refused to apologize or correct the record. Her actions and omissions amount to willful, intentional, and continued spreading of false and demonstrably harmful information that deceives the general public. Indeed, her behavior mirrors the propaganda efforts undertaken by Hamas — the FTO that recently launched a brutal terror attack against thousands of innocent Jewish and Israeli civilians — to erroneously shift blame to Israel as the hostilities continue.
Rule 1 of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Code of Official Conduct provides:
“A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House shall behave at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House.”
Rep. Tlaib’s conduct directly and unequivocally violates this rule. It is difficult to imagine a greater threat to the credibility and integrity of, and public faith in, the U.S. House of Representatives than a Member intentionally broadcasting to millions of Americans disinformation about a matter of the utmost public concern.
In light of Rep. Tlaib’s flagrant and ongoing misconduct, I hereby request that the Office of Congressional Ethics immediately launch an investigation into Rep. Tlaib and refer this matter to the House Committee on Ethics.
Thank you for your consideration of this submission.
Sincerely,
Brooke Goldstein
Executive Director, The Lawfare Project