"Guilty Of Genocide": Rep. Rashida Tlaib Held Up Sign Against Netanyahu During His Speech (X image@mehmetbalci_tr)

Benjamin Netanyahu’s address at the joint US Congress met with a personal protest in the chamber by the only Palestinian American member in the Congress, Rashida Tlaib. While some of the lawmakers gave Netanyahu a standing ovation, others pointedly stayed away. Thousands demonstrated outside protesting against the Israeli PM, who was branded as the “war criminal” by several, including US lawmakers.

Rashida Tlaib, the Michigan Rep., and a leading progressive Democrat, held up a sign that read “Guilty of genocide” on one side and “war criminal” on the other side. She held up the sign during Netanyahu’s controversial address in the joint Congress. The Democrat also wore a Palestinian flag pin and a kaffiyeh – the black and white scarf that has been linked with the Palestinian struggle for over half a century.

Tlaib was accompanied by one invited guest, Hani Almadhoun, a Palestinian who has lost more than 150 members of his extended family since Israel launched its war on Gaza.

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Earlier this week, Tlaib took to her X account and wrote that, “Netanyahu is a war criminal committing genocide against the Palestinian people. It is utterly disgraceful that leaders from both parties have invited him to address Congress. He should be arrested and sent to the International Criminal Court”.

Talib also highlighted that “since 1948, US provided more than $141 billion in weapons to the Israeli government to fund the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, including $17.9 billion since October”.

Ahead of Netanyahu’s speech at the joint Congress, a coalition of progressives, human rights advocates, former officials in the Biden administration, and some Democratic lawmakers gathered to denounce the Israeli PM’s invitation to the Capitol Hill.

Read also: “War Criminal”, “Disgrace”: Bernie Sanders Vehemently Denounces Benjamin Netanyahu

US and Jewish Veterans, Rabbis, and Rabbanical students also gathered to protest against Netanyahu.

US Senator, Bernie Sanders strongly denounced Netanyahu. He called Netanyahu a “war criminal” presiding over a “right-wing extremist government”.

He said the “invitation to Netanyahu is a disgrace and something that we will look back on with regret. With this invitation, it will be impossible, with a straight face, for the United States to lecture any country on Earth about human rights and human dignity”.