Controversial Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) both shared a cartoon over the weekend critical of the relationship between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The cartoon shows Netanyahu covering Tlaib’s mouth and Trump covering Omar’s, implying the lawmakers are being silenced.
As it turned out, the artist behind the image, Carlos Latuff, has a well-documented history of anti-Semitism, including finishing second the 2006 “International Holocaust Cartoon Contest” hosted by Iran.
“Oof. Looks like both Rep. Omar and Rep. Tlaib shared this awful Carlos Latuff cartoon in Instagram stories yesterday. In 2006, Latuff came in second in Iran’s International Holocaust Cartoon Contest, which is a thing that exists, in case you thought the TL couldn’t get any worse,” Batya Ungar-Sargon, an editor at the Jewish Daily Forward, noted on social media.
Oof. Looks like both Rep. Omar and Rep. Tlaib shared this awful Carlos Latuff cartoon in Instagram stories yesterda… https://t.co/2cUxjm5x7u
— Batya Ungar-Sargon (@bungarsargon)1566091550.0
The Washington Free Beacon has more on Latuff:
Latuff has a history of anti-Semitic drawings accusing Israeli lobbyists of controlling U.S. foreign policy. He has also drawn criticism for invoking and minimizing the Holocaust in criticizing Israeli policies towards Palestinians.
“Of course Israel isn’t building gas chambers in the West Bank, but surely we can find some similarities between the treatment given to Palestinians by the [Israel Defense Forces] and the Jews under Nazi rule,” he told The Forward in a 2008 interview.
Omar shared the image on Instagram, which Tlaib first posted to her Instagram page with a message.
“The more they try to silence us, our voices rise. The more they try to weaken us, the stronger we become. The more they try to discredit us, the truth prevails,” Tlaib wrote.
The latest controversy comes days after Israel barred Tlaib and Omar from traveling to Israel due to their continued support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, an anti-Semitic boycott of Israel.
*story by The Blaze