Legal group calls on Michigan bar to investigate, sanction Tlaib over anti-Israel rhetoric
The nonpartisan Coolidge Reagan Foundation is urging the Michigan state bar to investigate and sanction "Squad" Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., over her anti-Israel rhetoric.
FIRST ON FOX: A legal group called on the Michigan bar to investigate and sanction "Squad" Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., over her antisemitic rhetoric.
The nonpartisan Coolidge Reagan Foundation is calling on the State Bar of Michigan to probe Tlaib, who is an active attorney in Michigan, over her comments.
Dan Backer, the foundation's counsel, told Fox News Digital that he believes people who spread "vile, antisemitic lies to foster hatred towards a people" should be held accountable.
Backer said Tlaib "clearly violated" the Michigan bar's ethics code with her rhetoric and that he was initially looking into "some of those snot-nosed kids" out of Harvard and Columbia law schools.
"I was reading … what she was saying, and I was like, ‘You know, this is really outrageous. How is this OK?’" Backer said. "And then I remember, 'Well, she's in Michigan, I wonder if she's a lawyer.'"
"And I looked it up, and she was," Backer continued. "And so we talked about it internally. We realized that people need to be held accountable."
Backer said the "fundamental problem" that America is seeing right now is that "people do horrible s--- and they're never held accountable for it."
He also said that "the sooner you start putting cameras on people's faces, they stop."
Backer noted the number of calls to the nonprofit Accuracy in Media — of which Backer is on the board — from Harvard students asking to have their name taken down from the organization's "so-called doxxing truck" for signing a letter in support of Hamas.
"When people see accountability for their bad actions, you get less bad actors," Backer said. "I think that's really essential, and probably this generation of whiny, little s---s has not really experienced yet."
According to the complaint, the Coolidge Reagan Foundation's "request arises from Attorney Tlaib's false, discriminatory, and anti-Semitic comments regarding the horrific massacre and other crimes the international terrorist group Hamas ruthlessly unleashed against innocent Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023, including kidnapping, rape, beheading children, burning people alive, and murdering a baby by placing him in an oven."
"In response to these atrocities, Attorney Tlaib made several public statements evincing deeply discriminatory, antisemitic views that call into question her character and fitness to practice law," the complaint reads.
The complaint references Tlaib's censure by the House of Representatives this month "for her repeated reprehensible statements" and that Tlaib's "irresponsible anti-Semitic lies and discriminatory statements — which include embracing a call for the violent destruction of Israel and concomitant genocide of Israelis, as well as reckless false accusations of genocide against President Joe Biden and the government of Israel — violate the Michigan Court Rules and Michigan Rules of Professional Conduct."
"The State Bar of Michigan should initiate an investigation and impose appropriate sanctions against an attorney who spreads anti-Semitic propaganda and lies in support of an officially designated Foreign Terrorist Organization," it continues.
Tlaib's office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Tlaib has faced intense criticism over her anti-Israel and antisemitic remarks, including her promotion of the genocidal call against Jews "from the river to the sea."
Tlaib posted to social media about the phrase, saying it was about "peaceful coexistence."
"From the river to the sea is an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate. My work and advocacy is always centered in justice and dignity for all people no matter faith or ethnicity," she wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
However, even the Biden White House says the phrase could be considered "antisemitic."
Fox Business correspondent Hillary Vaughn quizzed the Palestinian-American lawmaker, asking her if she regrets using the phrase.
"Congresswoman, do you regret using the phrase 'from the river to the sea'? It's used by terrorists to call for the genocide of the Jewish people. Do you regret using it?" Vaughn said.
Tlaib did not respond.
Fox News Digital's Adam Shaw and Hillary Vaughn contributed reporting.