NNA – Palestinian American U.S. lawmaker Rashida Tlaib on Friday condemned as racist a cartoon published in the conservative magazine National Review showing her with an exploding pager – a reference to an attack this week against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
quot;Our community is already in so much pain right now. This racism will incite more hate + violence against our Arab amp; Muslim communities, and it makes everyone less safe. It#39;s disgraceful that the media continues to normalize this racism,quot; Tlaib wrote on the social media platform X.
Tlaib, a Democrat representing a Michigan district in the U.S. House of Representatives, is the lone Palestinian American lawmaker in the U.S. Congress.nbsp;
The Muslim American advocacy group Emgage Action, Democratic U.S. House members Cory Bush and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, some local officials in Michigan, and human rights groups also criticized the cartoon.
National Review has yet to respond to a request for comment.
The cartoon, published on Thursday, showed a woman sitting beside an exploding pager.nbsp;
The woman#39;s desk in the cartoon has a name card saying quot;Rep. Tlaib,quot; while the woman herself is shown saying, quot;ODD. MY PAGER JUST EXPLODED.quot;
Henry Payne, a Detroit News auto critic, created the cartoon. Payne#39;s X account titled the cartoon as quot;Tlaib Pager Hamas.quot; The Detroit News said it was not involved in its creation and distribution and chose not to run it.
Tlaib has been a fierce critic of Israel#39;s actions in the war and American support for the longtime U.S. ally.
Human rights advocates have cited the rising dehumanization of Arabs, Muslims, and Jews amid the war. — Reuters
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