US lawmaker Rashida Tlaib slams racist image of her with exploding pager

Cartoon published in National Review would ‘incite more hate and violence against our Arab and Muslim communities’.

Palestinian-American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has condemned as racist a cartoon that depicts her with a detonating pager, days after thousands of communication devices exploded across Lebanon in attacks blamed on Israel.

“Our community is already in so much pain right now. This racism will incite more hate + violence against our Arab & Muslim communities, and it makes everyone less safe,” Tlaib said of the cartoon published in conservative magazine National Review.

“It’s disgraceful that the media continues to normalize this racism,” the only Palestinian-American lawmaker in the United States Congress wrote on X on Friday.

Created by Henry Payne, the cartoon shows a woman sitting at a desk with a name card reading “Rep. Tlaib” where a device explodes. The woman remarks: “ODD. MY PAGER JUST EXPLODED.”

Thank you, Mayor @AHammoudMI, for speaking up. Our community is already in so much pain right now. This racism will incite more hate + violence against our Arab & Muslim communities, and it makes everyone less safe. It’s disgraceful that the media continues to normalize this…

— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) September 20, 2024

The illustration alludes to attacks in Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday when thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies exploded killing at least 37 people and wounding nearly 3,000, including civilians.

After the attacks, Tlaib shared a post by fellow Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez referring to it as a clear violation of “international humanitarian law”.

Tlaib, a Democrat from Michigan in the US House of Representatives who is a vocal critic of Israel’s war on Gaza, has often weathered harsh vitriol from Republican and some Democratic opponents, including baseless accusations of sympathies with Hamas.

In November, Tlaib was formally censured by the House, a step just below expulsion, for allegedly “promoting false narratives” about the Gaza war and “seeking Israel’s destruction”, charges she rejects.

Tlaib said at the time she “will not be silenced and I will not let you distort my words”.

Tlaib voiced her support on Thursday for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, criticising her colleagues in the US Congress for their silence as US-funded weapons continue to fuel bloodshed in the besieged enclave.

“We are living through one of, again, the most documented horrific crimes against humanity in our history. These are children who did not live to see their first birthday. We cannot normalize this,” said Tlaib.

“My colleagues continue to be silent. I wonder if it’s because these babies are Palestinian? They’re children, that’s it,” she added.