WASHINGTON (Dispatches) – Palestinian-American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has hosted an event commemorating the 75th anniversary of Nakba Day, when 750,000 Palestinians were forced from their homeland by Zionists, despite US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s push to cancel it.
The event—dubbed “Nakba 75 & the Palestinian People”—was held as scheduled in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing room in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill.
Dozens of people attended the event with several standing around the edges of the room and spilling outside the door.
The event featured Nakba survivors as well as academics and activists who stressed that the dispossession of Palestinians has not stopped.
“We have a right to tell our stories of the Nakba,… because the Nakba never ended,” Tlaib told the packed room.
This comes as McCarthy had claimed in a post on his Twitter account a day earlier that the event has been canceled, arguing that, “It’s wrong for members of Congress to traffic in anti-Semitic tropes about Israel.”
“As long as I’m speaker, we are going to support Israel’s right to self-determination and self-defense, unequivocally and in a bipartisan fashion,” he said.
Tlaib responded in a statement: “We fully plan on moving forward with this event and we will continue to ensure that Palestinian voices are heard. We will not be silenced.”
She further noted that “Speaker McCarthy wants to rewrite history and erase the existence and truth of the Palestinian people, but he has failed to do so.”
“This event is planned to bring awareness about the Nakba and create space for Palestinian Americans who experienced the Nakba firsthand to tell their stories of trauma and survival.”
The Muslim congresswoman further explained that the Nakba is a well-documented historical event that is recognized by the United Nations.
“We cannot allow the same people who want to ban books and erase history simply because they’re uncomfortable with the truth to silence Palestinian voices,” she stressed.