US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib faced accusations of antisemitism this week following the interpretation of a statement she made alleging anti-Palestinian bias after Michigan's attorney general announced she would file charges against pro-Palestinian student protesters.
Tlaib, who represents southeastern Michigan, responded to the announcement, telling The Detroit Metro Times that she believed this decision to punish the University of Michigan protesters was linked to bias against the issue of Palestine.
"It seems that the attorney general decided if the issue was Palestine, she was going to treat it differently, and that alone speaks volumes about possible biases within the agency she runs," Tlaib said, referring to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's decision to file charges against the students who had been protesting Israel's war in Gaza.
Nessel, who is Jewish, took to social media, comparing the recent cartoon of Tlaib in the National Review in which she was depicted with a pager linking her with Hezbollah, to Tlaib's criticism of the attorney general filing charges against the students.
"Rashida’s religion should not be used in a cartoon to imply that she’s a terrorist. It’s Islamophobic and wrong," Nessel wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "Just as Rashida should not use my religion to imply I cannot perform my job fairly as Attorney General. It’s antisemitic and wrong."
Nessel was quickly met with criticism, as well as support, for her comments. On Monday, she appeared on CNN, seeming to implicitly acknowledge that Tlaib had not mentioned her Jewish background, though nonetheless characterised Tlaib's comments as a dog whistle meant to refer to her faith. The CNN reporters confirmed on air that Tlaib did not mention Nessel's faith in her comment in what appeared to be a reluctant clarification.
Amid the growing controversy, the journalist who interviewed Tlaib and reported her statement on the charges against the student protesters emphasised that "Tlaib was referring to anti-Palestinian attitudes" when she made her comment about the charges. The same publication ran a fact-check article saying, "Tlaib did not say Nessel charged pro-Palestinian protesters because she’s Jewish".
As of Tuesday, Tlaib has not issued any further statements on the issue, seeming not to want to engage in a controversy where she's seeing growing public support.