Tlaib demands Israel release body of terrorist, calls her ‘loving daughter’

Tlaib did not acknowledge in any way the context around Afana’s death, glossing over the details of the incident to focus on Israel’s policy on holding the bodies of terrorists.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) tweeted Saturday that Israel was cruelly victimizing a Palestinian family by refusing to release their daughter’s body for burial.

“Meet Mai Afana’s mother, Khuloud, who is fighting to be able to bury her daughter & begin her healing,” wrote Tlaib.

“Mai was a mother, loving daughter & successful PhD student. She was killed by the Israeli government last June. Israel won’t release her body to her family.”

But Tlaib, a member of the so-called “Squad” of far-left, progressive lawmakers, did not include background information about the circumstances which had led to Afana being killed – namely, that she attempted to carry out a terror attack against IDF troops.

In June 2021, Afana tried to ram a group of Israeli soldiers with her car near a checkpoint, then ran towards troops with a knife in her hand.

“An assailant arrived in her car and attempted to ram into a number of IDF soldiers,” near Hizma, south of Ramallah, the IDF said in a statement at the time.

After failing to hit soldiers, Afana “exited her vehicle with a knife drawn” and did not listen to repeated calls to drop the knife.

“The soldiers responded with fire towards the assailant and neutralized her,” the statement continued.

Tlaib did not acknowledge in any way the context around Afana’s death, glossing over the details of the incident to focus on Israel’s policy on holding the bodies of terrorists, calling the practice “inhumane” and “violent.”

“I am sharing Mai’s story because I began to only learn last year of this inhumane practice by the Israeli govt,” Tlaib continued.

“Without proof, they make claims, and all to just continue to dehumanize Palestinians even after they have died. We must stand against this form of collective violence.”

Tlaib, who has called Israel an apartheid state in the past, did not acknowledge that Israel’s practice of holding terrorists’ bodies stems from Hamas’ holding of IDF soldiers’ bodies.

Israel adopted the policy in order to gain a bargaining chip against the terror group for future prisoner and body exchanges.

“The Palestinian people deserve the same dignity as any other human being,” Tlaib continued.

“To deny the right to see their loved ones for a modicum of closure is another form of painful violence from the U.S. sponsored, Israeli arsenal. Mai’s dead body is one of hundreds being held.”