Marjorie Taylor Greene Says Rashida Tlaib Leading 'Hamas Caucus'

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has accused Democratic lawmaker Rashida Tlaib of leading the "Hamas Caucus" in Congress.

The Georgia Republican said Rep. Tlaib of Michigan and her progressive colleagues, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, were more sympathetic to Hamas militants than the Americans who were jailed for their roles in the January 6 riot at the Capitol.

"The Hamas Caucus led by Rashida Tlaib, AOC, and Ilhan Omar treat Hamas terrorists better than [January 6] prisoners," Greene wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday. "Why is that?"

Her post came in response to a video shared by the Libs of TikTok account, which showed Tlaib being pursued by a reporter asking questions about Hamas' attack on October 7.

Newsweek contacted Greene and Tlaib's offices for comment via email outside business hours and will update this article if any are received. Ocasio-Cortez and Omar have also been contacted for comment via email.

Hamas led the deadliest Palestinian militant attack on Israel in history on Saturday, storming through a border fence from Gaza and killing Israelis in their homes, on the streets and at an outdoor music festival. Israel subsequently launched its heaviest ever airstrikes on Gaza.

As of Thursday, more than 1,200 people had been killed in Israel, the Associated Press reported, citing the Israeli military. At least 1,200 people have been killed in Gaza, according to authorities there, the AP said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his country is "at war" and has cut off supplies of food, fuel, electricity and medicine into Gaza. Israel has called up 360,000 army reservists as it prepares for a likely ground offensive into Gaza, a small enclave with around 2.3 million residents.

Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member of Congress and a vocal critic of Israel's treatment of Palestinians, released a statement on Sunday that said she mourned both the Palestinian and Israeli lives lost. She also called on Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza and for an end to U.S. aid to Israel.

"I am determined as ever to fight for a just future where everyone can live in peace, without fear and with true freedom, equal rights, and human dignity," she said in the statement, which did not explicitly mention Hamas.

The path to that future, Tlaib said, "must include lifting the blockade, ending the occupation, and dismantling the apartheid system that creates the suffocating, dehumanizing conditions that can lead to resistance.

"The failure to recognize the violent reality of living under siege, occupation, and apartheid makes no one safer. No person, no child anywhere should have to suffer or live in fear of violence."

She added that as long as the U.S. "provides billions in unconditional funding to support the apartheid government, this heartbreaking cycle of violence will continue."

Tlaib's statement prompted calls for her to be primaried. Her decision to keep the Palestinian flag on display outside her office on Capitol Hill was criticized by Republicans and Democrats.

She was defended by one Democratic colleague, Rep. Steny Hoyer, who told reporters: "She's Palestinian, that doesn't mean she's a terrorist. It doesn't mean she condones this."

Tlaib has hit back at her critics, saying comments accusing her of supporting Hamas' attacks were rooted in bigotry.

"I do not support targeting and killing of civilians, whether in Israel or Palestine," she told the Michigan Advance on Wednesday. "The fact that some have suggested otherwise is offensive and rooted in bigoted assumptions about my faith and ethnicity."

Omar, who has also been one of the Israeli government's fiercest critics in Congress, condemned Hamas' attack in a post on X on Saturday.

In a later post, she urged people to pray for Palestinians. "Palestinians are human beings who have been besieged and are deserving of protection from the international community," she wrote.

Ocasio-Cortez also condemned Hamas' attack in an initial statement.

In response to a video showing pro-Israel protesters in New York City calling for the deaths of Palestinians, she wrote on X: "Here's what we're not going to do: We will not allow bigotry to destroy our community and city in this devastating moment. Islamophobia, antisemitism, and victim blaming cannot be tolerated. We can + will reject it all. Not hard. We must focus on the lives currently at stake."