Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) brushed off Iran’s direct attack on Israel last weekend as “fake” during a tense House Democrat Conference meeting Thursday morning, a Capitol Hill source familiar with the matter told The Post.
Waters, 85, disparaged Israel during her remarks and said the Jewish state had no need to “retaliate” for what she called “a fake attack from Iran,” the source said.
Late Saturday, Iran launched 320 drones and missiles against Israel in response to an April 1 strike in Damascus that killed Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, among other senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders .
An estimated 99% of the rockets and drones were intercepted by Israeli, US, British, French and Jordanian defense systems. Israeli officials say the remainder did minimal damage and caused only one known injury.
Iran’s attack was widely anticipated and Tehran claims it gave the US 72 hours notice in advance of the bombardment. American officials have disputed claims that Tehran communicated with Washington ahead of time.
The attack prompted House Speaker Mike Johnson to move forward on a package of foreign aid bills that include $26.38 billion in assistance for Israel, with a final vote on passage expected Saturday evening.
The House Democratic conference has splintered over the Middle East war. At one point, Palestinian-American Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) “stormed” out of Thursday’s meeting during discussions on Israel, Punchbowl News reported.
“Our country isn’t just complicit in this genocide—we’re actively participating in it,” she declared Thursday afternoon on social media.
“This week, my colleagues want to vote to send over $26B more of our tax dollars to Netanyahu as he carries out the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.”
During the meeting, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) implored his colleagues to remain united over the coming days, but refrained from providing specific directives on how to handle Republican infighting over a proposed $60 billion influx of aid to Ukraine.
Back in February, Tlaib backed a campaign spearheaded by her sister to rally Michiganders to mark themselves “uncommitted” in the Feb. 27 Democratic primary for president. Michigan has the largest percentage of Arab-Americans of any state in the US.
Over 100,000 voters in the Wolverine State voted “uncommitted” in protest of Biden’s support of Israel.
Reps for Waters and Tlaib did not immediately respond to requests for comment.