Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) made headlines recently when she uttered the antisemitic "from the river to the sea" chant at a pro-Palestine rally in Michigan. Representative Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) appeared on Fox Business's Varney & Co., where he said her usage of the phrase "crosses the line."
"You cannot just use the rhetoric, 'from the river to the sea.' In fact, that means that you want to wipe the Jewish race off the face of the Earth," said Rep. Gimenez before pivoting to a new resolution to censure Rep. Tlaib initially introduced by Representative Marjorie Taylor-Greene.
Twenty-three Republicans voted against Rep. Greene's initial measure because she referred to the protest within the Capitol building led by pro-Palestine demonstrators with whom Tlaib spoke as an "insurrection."
Rep. Gimenez said this "was not very thoughtful" of Rep. Greene while expressing support for a revised version introduced by Representative Rich McCormick (R-GA), saying it could be "much better worded."
Host Stuart Varney then asked how different the reaction from Congress would be if a member were to make disparaging remarks toward African Americans, Latinos, or LGBT individuals.
"I don't know if you are going to be imprisoned," Gimenez answered, "But I am sure you are going to be censured by Congress. And so that is the problem I have. It is not just, 'Hey, we want political change from the river to the sea,' it is that you want to wipe the Jewish people off the face of the Earth. That crosses the line in my book."
"The Democrats are divided on Israel, the Republicans are not. Is that an accurate statement?" Varney followed up.
Gimenez agreed this was accurate, saying, "The Republicans are very much united in our effort, and we unanimously want to help Israel and support what they are doing in Gaza. What happened on October 7th was unspeakable. The Israeli people have the right to defend themselves, and the only way that they are ever going to get everlasting peace is with the destruction of Hamas."
Nevertheless, he did say, "The majority of the Democrats do support the Israeli effort, but there is a growing number of Democrats that do not, and that is very troubling to me. What you see in campuses around the United States and some of the demonstrations, you would not have seen ten, twenty years ago, and now you are seeing more and more of it."
