How CNN, ADL & Others Amplified Smear Against Rep. Rashida Tlaib for Criticizing Campus Prosecutions

We look at the smear campaign faced by the only Palestinian American in Congress and a vocal critic of Israel, Democratic Congressmember Rashida Tlaib, after she defended the rights of student protesters. Tlaib recently criticized Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel over charges Nessel filed against 11 mostly students and alumni who were involved in a pro-Palestine encampment at the University of Michigan. Nessel then accused Tlaib of antisemitism despite the congressmember never mentioning Nessel’s religion. Key media figures like CNN’s Jake Tapper have parroted the claim that Tlaib said Nessel is biased because she is Jewish, despite the original article’s author fact-checking the narrative. “This is not at all what happened. She’s talking about an anti-Palestinian bias,” says Steve Neavling, an investigative reporter who first published Tlaib’s comments in the Detroit Metro Times. “It was a very unusual, surreal experience for me as a journalist to see so many lies being peddled about an interview that I witnessed.” We also speak with Prem Thakker, a political correspondent for Zeteo News who has documented the smear campaign, about his efforts to get an update on the U.S. investigation into the killing of 6-year-old Hind Rajab in Gaza. “I have not gotten an answer. It’s been over 240 days.”