>> During a recent interview with Yahoo News, Rashida Tlaib had defended her preference
for a one state solution in Israel.
And she was also taken out of context by right wingers who tried to make her appear as some
sort of antisemitic individual who's against Jewish people and the State of Israel.
Now, I'm gonna give you the full video in context and then we'll discuss.
Take a look.
>> What is your vision for a one-state solution that meets both Palestinian and Israeli or
Jewish national aspirations?
>> Absolutely, and let me tell you.
I mean, for me, just I think two weeks ago or so, we celebrated, or just took a moment
I think in our country to remember the Holocaust.
And there's a kind of a calming feeling I always tell folks, when I think of the Holocaust
and the tragedy of the Holocaust.
And the fact that it was my ancestors, Palestinians who lost their land and some lost their lives,
their livelihood, the human dignity.
Their existence, in many ways have been wiped out and some people's passport.
I mean, just all of it was in the name of trying to create a safe haven for Jews post
the Holocaust, post the tragedy in persecution of Jews across the world at that time.
And I love the fact that it was my ancestors that provided that, right, in many ways.
But they did it in a way that took their human dignity away, right?
And it was forced on them.
And so when I think about one state I think about the fact why couldn't we do it in a
better way where, and I don't want people to do it in the name of Judaism, just like
I don't want people to use Islam in that way.
It has to be done in a way of values around equality, and around the fact that you shouldn't
oppress others so that you can feel free and safe.
Why can't we all be free and safe together?
>> So all of you who just watched it, you saw what she said.
You know what she said, intended meant and clearly stated.
It wasn't even that ambiguous at all.
She said, look, the Holocaust was tragic and horrific, and the state of Israel shouldn't
have necessarily been created in the way that it was.
And you can disagree with that, right?
But at least I take some comfort in knowing that it created a safe haven for Jews who
had just escaped the tragedy of the Holocaust.
Super clear.
Now, I'm gonna show you what Republicans said about it, and then actually some reporters
believe it or not, actually corrected the Republicans this time.
>> Right.
>> Okay.
>> And I wanna also emphasize the two phrases that really stood out to me while she was
speaking, tragedy of the Holocaust, horrific persecution of Jews.
Those were phrases, verbatim, from that last video.
Now, the US ambassador to Israel tweeted about this and said quote your words are both grossly
antisemitic and ignorant.
You should take some time to learn the history before trying to rewrite it.
Liz Cheney, a very noted warmonger says, surely Speaker Pelosi and Leader Hoyer will finally
take action against vile antisemitism in their ranks.
This must cross a line even for them, Rashida Tlaib says thinking of the Holocaust provides
her a calming feeling.
No, that is not what she said.
She did not say thinking of the Holocaust gives her a calming feeling.
I mean, she specifically said it gave her a calming feeling to know that a safe place
was created for them.
But, of course, they have every incentive to twist her words and make her out to be
some sort of dangerous person who's against the Jewish community in the State of Israel,
which is not the case.
>> Paul Waldman wrote in The Washington Post, if you read Tlaib's words and decided that
she said that thinking of the Holocaust itself gave her a calming feeling, you'd have to
be too stupid to be capable of tying your own shoes.
And he said look, Liz Cheney may be a lot of things but she ain't stupid.
She's doing it on purpose.
And he said she is, quote, unconstrained by any concern for truth or morality.
That is absolutely true.
It also applies to Steve Scalise.
Scalise said and wait til you get a load of what Scalise has done in the past.
He said there is no justification for the twisted and disgusting comments made by Rashida
Tlaib just after days after the annual day of Holocaust Remembrance where the 6 million
Jews were murdered during the Holocaust he said.
And there is nothing calming about that fact.
But she didn't say there was anything calming about that fact, and that's a brazen lie.
So the Washington Post followed up in a different article.
And they asked them, look you must've obviously not heard the second half of the statement
where she didn't say it was calming that the Holocaust happened, said it was calming that
at least there was a safe haven for Jews after the Holocaust happened.
And Cheney and Scalise's offices both said, yeah, don't care.
No, we think she is a violent, antisemite and thought the Holocaust was calming.
And the reporter, Amber Phillips in that case, was like, my god, I don't understand.
She said, it's a brazen example of how reality is mattering less and less in politics.
She went on to say that this is a particularly fact free and baseless attack.
It's as close as it gets to just making stuff up.
So finally reporters are doing a wonderful job of calling it as it is.
Although far too many headlines still repeat Republicans call Rashida Tlaib antisemitic.
That's a terrible headline.
>> Yes.
>> As Paul Waldman correctly points out, he says the headline should reflect what the
reality of the story is.
And the reality of the story is he said Republicans smear Democrat with bogus antisemitism charge
would be the more correct headline that would accurately capture what is happening in this
case.
And if you're wondering about Steve Scalise, well, maybe he's really so sensitive about
antisemitism, it clouded his judgement of being able to understand the English language,
right?
Well, he does care about antisemitism, but not necessarily in the way that you would
expect.
He's one of the top three Republicans in the House.
Earlier in his career, he gave a speech to a white supremacist group.
And told them that he is quote David Duke without the baggage.
>> But they don't get attacked as antisemitic.
I mean Mo Brooks, in March of this year, read from Mein Kampf on the-
>> House floor.
>> On the house floor and was there any anger from Republicans?
Was there any anger from the media?
Of course not, of course not.
And so the one thing that Republicans do well, unfortunately, with the help of the media
is perpetuating lies about their political opponents.
And that's exactly what's happening with Rashida Tlaib.
That's exactly what's happening with representative Omar.
And it's just we're constantly in this position of playing defense.
They're constantly playing offense.
They're constantly twisting words and trying to smear people.
And then the left is left trying to figure out how to rebut all of their ridiculous claims.
>> So again broke this down perfectly till we talk about five step way that Republicans
do this on a regular basis.
It always starts out on the blogs, right-wing blogs that don't care about truth or reality.
It jumps to Fox News.
It jumps to Republican leaders, then it goes to Trump, and, most importantly, aided and
abetted by most of the mainstream media, which then takes the headline of controversy around
whether IIlhan Omar or Rashida Tlaib is antisemitic.
But once you framed it that way, they've already lost the battle.
And so the media has to do a much better job.
Here they have begun that process, but overall they have to do a much better job of accurately
titling these things and calling them what it is.
>> Yes.
>> So any rational person that watched that clip knows that she did not call the Holocaust
calming.
So when they lie about it, you have to call it a lie.
You have to call it a lie otherwise you're not being objective.
You're doing political correctness on behalf of the Republican Party.
>> By the way, Speaking of accurate labels, I made a little mistake earlier in the show
when I mentioned Danny Dannon.
I read his tweet.
He's actually Israel's ambassador to the UN, not the US ambassador to Israel.
So I just want to make that quick correction.
Now- >> Yes, I just want to say about that.
Look, if Israel's Ambassador doesn't like what Rashida Tlaib is saying, and it's because
he represents the right wing government of Israel, that is not at all surprising.
So I'm not bothered by that, of course he's gonna say, my god she defended Palestinians.
They should have no rights and we should occupy them for the rest of time
>> That's not a surprising statement, okay, yes, I did hyperbole on his statement.
Okay, its not exactly what he said.
We read you the exact code earlier.
Now, see, we are honest about our point of view.
But when the Republicans come in and lie about what Rashida Tlaib said, why do they do it?
Cuz of the second guilty party here.
One is the media that calls it 50/50 and helps to smear these Democrats and progressives.
Another is Democratic leadership.
Why does Liz Cheney say, hey, it's time for Pelosi and Heuer to do something?
Cuz last time they bullied Pelosi and Heuer and actually, they didn't have to bully her
much.
>> Right.
>> Pelosi and Heuer wanted to throw Ilhan Omar under a bus, and so they did it to Ilhan
Omar.
And they're like, why don't you execute, politically, Tlaib like we had you do to Ilhan Omar?
Hurry up and do it already.
By the way, you should know this, this is an important facet of politics, and it's evolved
in this story.
There are progressive groups that fight back and they do make a difference, and you could
be part of that.
So just as Democrats immediately put out a press release saying that Democratic leadership
should do the opposite and back Tlaib, and within two hours of that they in fact did.
>> Nice.
>> So Pelosi and the Democratic leadership in this case did back Tlaib.
I mean look, it's so easy.
Cuz one side is a 100% right, the other side is completely made up of fake controversy.
But even then you got to hold your breath with Democratic leadership.
>> 100%.
>> But the pressure is super important.
Just Democrats puts on the pressure and then they get the result.
And so good, again, positive movement in the media and Democratic leadership in this issue,
but overall they shouldn't have done it to Omar.
They've got to fight back.
Their weakness encourages Republicans like Liz Cheney, and I noted the hypocrisy of Scalise.
I mean, can you imagine anyone who says they're David Duke without the baggage, and talking
about antisemitism with a straight face?
>> Yeah, I can totally.
>> Yeah.
>> And by the way, the guy who pointed that out is Jonathan Chait, writing for New York
Magazine.
He also said, quote, amazingly, her positive comment about the establishment of the state
of Israel is being twisted into a positive comment about the Holocaust and of course
that's also not true.
Another reporter doing a great job of pointing it out even though he doesn't agree with her
one state solution.
By the way neither do I.
But you have to be honest about what she actually said, okay?
And in terms of Liz Cheney, you're talking about how you're concerned about things that
might have gone wrong in a war.
Why don't you look around the house and see if you can find a war criminal?
And after you've criticized your own dad for torture and the killing of up to about a million
civilians in Iraq, including all those children.
Then maybe we can have a conversation about whether you care about war crimes.
And one of our viewers made a great point on Twitter.
They said, remember Liz Cheney condemned her own sister, to win in Wyoming, said gay marriage
is wrong.
Her sister is in a marriage and part of the LGBT community.
But she wouldn't condemn her dad for torture and war crimes.
That's who Liz Cheney is.
So I'm not having a conversation about what Liz Cheney thinks Democrats should do on made
up charges.
No, Democrats need to fight back super hard.
If I was Democratic leadership you know what I'd do today?
I'd be like, Liz Cheney thank you for bringing up the issue of antisemitism cuz we are going
to do a bill on that just like we did with IIhan Omar.
And this time we're gonna name names.
Steve Scalise who brags about being like David Duke.
Mo Brooks who read Mein Kampf in a positive light on the house floor and Donald Trump
who said there was very fine people on the Nazi side of Charlottesville who chanted the
Jews will not replace us.
We are going to condemn their out of control, unbelievable antisemitism that has actually
led to people being killed at synagogues across the country.
That's what the Democrats should do today.