Exclusive: Rep. Rashida Tlaib is part of a secretive social media group whose members have skewered Hamas in its war fight with Israel after the terror group attacked and killed hundreds of innocent Israeli civilians last month, Fox News Digital has found.
The Michigan Democrat is a member of the American Palestinian Congress group on Facebook. The group is hidden from non-members and does not appear in the platform’s search engine, although Fox News Digital was able to access it.
The group’s founder, Maher Abdelkader, who has extensive ties to Tlaib and has also been linked to other liberal politicians, has been criticized in the past for his anti-Semitic social media posts, including questioning whether the Holocaust ever happened.
The House of Representatives votes to censure Rashida Tlaib over her anti-Israel comments
Rashida Tlaib is a member of the Palestinian American Congress Facebook group. (Fox News Digital screenshot from the secret Facebook page of the American Palestinian Congress)
The American Palestinian Congress group, to which Tlaib belongs, published pro-Hamas posts following the deadly October 7 attack on Israel.
On October 12, a group member posted: “We don’t want to throw you into the sea… We want you to take the boat back to where you came from.” The letter was accompanied by a photo of an elderly Israeli woman and a Hamas fighter holding her captive.
Posted on the Palestinian American Congress page (Fox News Digital screenshot from the secret Facebook page of the American Palestinian Congress)
On October 19, another member of the group wrote about the “achievements” of the “resistance in northern occupied Palestine,” including dozens of deaths of Israeli soldiers. The post included a picture of a Hamas fighter.
Posted on the Palestinian American Congress page (Fox News Digital screenshot from the secret Facebook page of the American Palestinian Congress)
“Since yesterday I have been glued to the TV watching the news,” one group member posted on October 10, addressing the “American media” and saying: “You and the people directing you, you are the problem, you almost created it.” 100 years ago, he formally declared it 75 years ago, and you have been fanning its flames ever since.”
“You consider Hamas a terrorist organization and I will not argue with you at the same time that you are broadcasting that they are killing women and children. I believe that this is what terrorists are doing at the same time, without mentioning the killing of Palestinians.” Women, children and entire families are killed on a daily basis (sic) by [peace-loving] The State of Israel uses American gifts of weapons and jet fighters.”
They later wrote: “Yesterday I did not see Hamas, I saw the descendants of refugees who were ethnically cleansed from their homeland attacking the descendants of the colonialists who sent them to the diaspora.”
Posted on the Palestinian American Congress page (Fox News Digital screenshot from the secret Facebook page of the American Palestinian Congress)
Rashida Tlaib’s largest fundraiser accuses Israel of wanting to “ethnically cleanse” Palestinians
Several members also posted pro-Hamas messages and photos this year before the attacks.
Posted on the Palestinian American Congress page (Fox News Digital screenshot from the secret Facebook page of the American Palestinian Congress)
Posted on the Palestinian American Congress page (Fox News Digital screenshot from the secret Facebook page of the American Palestinian Congress)
Tlaib became a member of the group six years ago, and participated in it during her election campaign for Congress in 2018. The following year, she was criticized after a report in the Daily Caller News Foundation revealed her membership and a large number of anti-Semitic posts in the group.
Rashida Tlaib participated in the Palestinian American Congress group in 2018. (Fox News Digital screenshot from the secret Facebook page of the American Palestinian Congress)
Tlaib is the only Palestinian American in Congress, and she has faced scrutiny for her statements after the bloody Hamas invasion and the war that followed. In a largely symbolic gesture, the House of Representatives voted to censure her by 234-188 last week as a formal public rebuke of recent anti-Israel statements she made in the wake of the Jewish nation’s battle against the terror group. Her congressional office did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Tlaib has a long history with Abdelkader, founder of the American Palestinian Congress, who has repeatedly promoted anti-Semitic conspiracy theories over the years. He had previously shared a video in which he described Jews as “satanic” and questioned whether 6 million of them died in the Holocaust. He later retracted those comments.
Omar and Tlaib call on Congressional leaders to condemn “anti-Muslim” and “hatred against Palestinians”
Abdel Qader participated in many fundraising events with Tlaib over the years, and also appeared in several photos that she posted on her social media accounts.
The Palestinian activist has not only been a major fundraiser for Tlaib, including personally donating at least $6,500 to her campaign since 2018, but was also chairman of her finance committee during her 2018 campaign for Congress.
Tlaib presented him with the title at a campaign event and presented him with a medal in April 2018 as a sign of gratitude for his help in her inaugural campaign.
On Monday, Abdul Qader published a post on his Facebook page, announcing a fundraiser in Chicago for Tlaib and Democratic Pennsylvania Rep. Summer Lee, two congresswomen who he said “wholeheartedly support” their community and “the just cause of Palestine.” “.
Maher Abdel Qader promotes a donation campaign for Representatives Summer Lee and Rashida Tlaib. (Screenshot of the Fox News digital channel from Maher Abdel Qader’s Facebook page)
Since Israel launched a counterattack against Hamas, Abdelkader has attended pro-Palestinian protests in the United States and posted anti-Israel messages on his Facebook page.
For example, on October 19, Abdel Qader posted: “Nazi-Israeli air raid on the Arab National Hospital killed more than 500 people, stop the massacre now.”
In fact, it was a failed rocket launch from the Palestinian side that was responsible for hitting the hospital. Despite this, Tlaib and others repeated the lie that the Israelis beat her, even after reports showed that was not the case.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan, speaks during a demonstration calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, near the US Capitol on October 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Amanda Andrade Rhodes)
In addition to Tlaib, Abdul Qader has also shown her support for several other progressive politicians, including fellow Squad member Cori Bush of Missouri.
Bush participated in a virtual Zoom fundraiser with Abdelkader in September 2021, via his locked Instagram account. In November of that year, Abdelkader posted a fundraising flyer for Bush at a reception hosted by the St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee and the Islamic Community of St. Louis, which requested donations of between $100 and $2,500 for Bush’s campaign.
He apparently donated $250 to her fundraising campaign.
CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The controversial activist also campaigned with several other Democrats, including New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, among others.
Abdelkader did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Elizabeth Elkind and Cameron Cawthorn of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
