The Michigan chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI), a chapter of the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on CNN to retract and apologize for a false claim that Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) said that state’s Attorney General Dana Nessel was biased in her prosecution of anti-genocide protesters “because she’s Jewish.”
In a discussion yesterday with CNN host Dana Bash, the network’s political director David Chalian said: “It’s not very hard to say that Rashida Tlaib saying that Dana Nessel is pursuing charges because she’s Jewish is an antisemitic thing to say, it is.”
Bash also – in the context of the interview – falsely characterized Rep. Tlaib’s remarks as “antisemitism.”
VIDEO: CNN Falsely Claims Rep. Rashida Tlaib Said AG is Biased Because She’s Jewish
Previously CNN host Jake Tapper said: “Congresswoman Tlaib is suggesting that she shouldn’t be prosecuting these individuals that Nessel says broke the law and that she’s only doing it because she’s Jewish and the protesters are not. That’s quite an accusation.”
VIDEO: CAIR-MI Welcomes Gov. Whitmer Declining to Back Prosecution of Anti-Genocide Protesters
What Rep. Tlaib actually said was: “It seems that the Attorney General decided if the issue was Palestine, she was going to treat it differently, and that alone speaks volumes about possible biases within the agency she runs.”
FACT-CHECK: Tlaib did not say Nessel charged pro-Palestinian protesters because she’s Jewish
SEE: Rashida Tlaib Targeted Over Made-Up Quote
“CNN made a misstatement of fact that needs to be retracted if the network is to maintain its journalistic credibility,” said CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid. “Congresswoman Tlaib should also be offered a public apology for falsely claiming she is antisemitic.”
Walid also said that given the number of threats that Rep. Tlaib has received in her office this year, such misstatements through national media place her safety in jeopardy.
BACKGROUNDER:
Yesterday, CAIR-MI condemned the “blatant and hateful” hoax perpetrated by the rightwing outlet Jewish Insider and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who have falsely claimed that Rep. Tlaib accused Nessel of prosecuting 11 anti-genocide protesters at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor because she is Jewish. Tlaib never made such a comment.
The defamatory lie apparently originated in an article written by Josh Kraushaar and published in Jewish Insider. Attorney General Nessel sparked outrage by tweeting the same false claim against Rep. Tlaib and labeling the statement that Tlaib never made “antisemitic.”
Rep. Tlaib comments made no mention of Nessel being Jewish, but that there was possible bias against the Palestinian cause within the Attorney General’s office. Of the 11 protesters prosecuted by Nessel’s office, only 3 of them are Muslim and some of them are Jewish.
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CONTACT: CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid, 248-842-1418, dwalid@cair.com; CAIR-MI Staff Attorney Amy Doukoure, 586-943-8823, adoukoure@cair.com