A Profile In Courage: Rashida Tlaib’s Ceasefire Ultimatum to Joe Biden

Today, in response to President Joe Biden’s unequivocal support for the war crimes being carried out by the Israeli Defense Forces against innocent civilians in Gaza, @Rashida Tlaib and MeansTV released a video that may shake the foundations of American politics.

In it, she pledges that she and the American people will not vote for Joe Biden in 2024 unless he stops supporting genocide and immediately demands a cease-fire.

This is not an idle threat. Michigan, where Rashida Tlaib’s district is, has had two razor-close presidential elections in 2016 and 2020.

And Representative Tlaib’s district includes Dearborn which is the highest concentration of Muslims in the US. And it isn’t just Muslims appalled by this genocide. Joe Biden’s support inside the Democratic Party has plummeted by 11% since the start of Israel’s brutal bombing campaign against civilians in Gaza. Those 11% (many of whom are young people who idealized the Squad) were looking for permission to withhold their vote from Joe Biden if he continues to back war crimes against children in the Gaza strip. And Representative Tlaib just gave that permission – at a huge potential political cost to herself.

Rashida was already facing a looming censure vote in the US House for her courageous speech on this issue. She has already faced a primary challenge from the corporatist wing of the Democratic party. And in retaliation for this video, the Democratic Party and Joe Biden will undoubtedly do their best to make an example out of her. The Republicans may well cooperate. The Trump base has long been demanding that she be expelled from Congress. And without the support of Joe Biden and Hakeem Jeffries, they may have the votes to succeed.

But nonetheless, she looked at the massacre of over 3,000 children and over 8,000 civilians which is only escalating with the Israeli ground invasion of the Gaza strip and just like the thousands of Jewish Voice For Peace Protesters who risked arrest to shut down Grand Central Station this weekend, she asked herself, if not now, when? If not me, who. So she decided to do everything in her power to stop it.