


Addressing the crowd at a pro-Palestinian rally outside the Capitol on Wednesday, Representative Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) repeated the false claim that the Israeli military bombed a hospital in Gaza — even after American and Israeli intelligence confirmed that the strike was caused by a misfired Palestinian rocket.
“We continue to watch people think it’s ok to bomb a hospital with children,” Tlaib said tearfully.
While the Palestinian Health Ministry initially claimed that an Israeli airstrike had destroyed the hospital Tuesday night, killing 500 civilians, the IDF announced in a subsequent statement that their investigation had concluded the blast was caused by a misfired rocket launched by the terror group Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The IDF also released footage showing a rocket launched from Gaza failing and plummeting back into Gazan territory. Intercepted communications between Palestinian terrorists also appear to confirm the finding. Images of the impact site show damage mostly to the hospital’s parking lot, not the building itself.
During his visit to Israel Wednesday, President Joe Biden told Israeli leaders that U.S. officials had confirmed the explosion was “done by the other team.” Two Pentagon officials also told ABC News that the U.S. had independently confirmed Palestinian culpability.
Despite the evidence that Palestinian forces were responsible for the hospital attack, Tlaib has refused to delete a tweet she posted on Tuesday that said, “Israel just bombed the Baptist Hospital killing 500 Palestinians (doctors, children, patients) just like that.”
Hours before repeating the lie at Wednesday’s rally, Tlaib refused to answer National Review‘s John McCormack when he asked her multiple times why she hadn’t deleted the false tweet.
During the rally, Tlaib also called out Biden for publicly supporting Israel.
“I want [Biden] to know, as a Palestinian American, as someone of Muslim faith, I’m not going to forget this. It’s not a threat…I think the White House and everyone thinks we’re just going to sit back an allow this to continue happening,” she said.
Democratic “squad” member Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) also peddled the falsity on Twitter and said that, “Bombing a hospital is among the gravest of war crimes. The IDF reportedly blowing up one of the few places the injured and wounded can seek medical treatment and shelter during a war is horrific.” Omar’s tweet is still posted, as well.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) warned against sharing misinformation last week.
“If you see a claim, photo, or video that triggers a strong emotional reaction, take a moment to pause and check for veracity/confirmation from multiple sources,” she said.