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‘Squad’ members cast lone votes against bill banning Hamas terrorists from US

Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Cori Bush (D-MO) said the bill would incite hatred of Palestinians.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Two members of Congress stood against 422 of their colleagues Wednesday in voting against a bill banning Hamas terrorists from ever gaining entry into the United States – Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Cori Bush (D-MO.

Introduced by Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA), House Resolution 6679, the No Immigration Benefits for Hamas Terrorists Act says that “members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) or Hamas or who participated in or otherwise facilitated the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel may not be admitted” into the country.” It also expanded an existing law to bar all Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) members and not just its “officers, representatives, and spokespersons,” as the original ban stated.

Any “non-US national” participant or facilitator of the atrocities committed during the massacre of 1,200 people and abduction of a further 250, is also barred from seeking asylum or being protected from deportation.

Both congresswomen, who are members of the “Squad” of progressive Democrats that is virulently anti-Israel, called the bill “redundant” and claimed it would incite hatred of Palestinians.

“H.R. 6679 is unnecessary because it is redundant with already existing federal law,” Tlaib said in a statement. “It’s just another GOP messaging bill being used to incite anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian, and anti-Muslim hatred that makes communities like ours unsafe.”

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Bush posted to X that she had opposed the bill “because it is a redundant, empty messaging bill Republicans are using to target immigrants and incite anti-Palestinian hate. Republicans have ZERO credibility on these issues.”

The redundancy claim refers to the fact that Hamas and PIJ members are already prevented from entering the U.S. because they are officially designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. However, the bill expands the prohibition to anyone who was involved even by donating financially to the cause of attacking the Jewish state on what Israelis call “the Black Sabbath,” and ordinary PLO supporters.

The PLO was the forerunner of the Palestinian Authority, and Fatah, the major movement behind them both, has its own armed terrorist force that carries out myriad attacks against Israelis from its territory in Judea and Samaria.

Besides the two naysayers, six members did not vote and one, Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL), only voting “present” because, she said, it was merely a stunt “ to score cheap political points, politicize immigration, and divide our communities.”

McClintock, who has expressed rock-solid support of Israel in its war against a “barbaric” and “genocidal” Hamas, quickly looked ahead after the vote, saying, “It is imperative that Congress ensures that these bad actors will find no refuge in the United States.”

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The bill will now go to the Senate for consideration.