Rashida Tlaib condemns cartoon showing her with exploding pager

WASHINGTON: Palestinian American U.S. lawmaker Rashida Tlaib on Friday condemned as racist a cartoon published in the conservative magazine National Review showing her with an exploding pager - a reference to an attack this week against members of the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“Our community is already in so much pain right now. This racism will incite more hate + violence against our Arab & Muslim communities, and it makes everyone less safe. It’s disgraceful that the media continues to normalize this racism,” Tlaib wrote on the social media platform X.

Tlaib, a Democrat representing a Michigan district in the U.S. House of Representatives, is the lone Palestinian American lawmaker in the U.S. Congress. The Muslim American advocacy group Emgage Action, Democratic U.S. House members Cory Bush and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, some human rights groups also criticized the cartoon.