Linda Sarsour and others welcome Rashida Tlaib to Congress. Image by Hannah Allam/Twitter

By Aiden Pink January 3, 2019

As Rashida Tlaib prepared to be sworn in as the first Palestinian-American congresswoman on Thursday, she wore a traditional Palestinian robe — and was joined by activist Linda Sarsour.

“It’s a national holiday, I’m doing no work today,” Sarsour, who is also Palestinian-American, said in a video she posted on Facebook. “You’re witnessing history today,” she added.

Tlaib, Sarsour and others in attendance outside her office were wearing a thobe, a traditional Palestinian robe. Tlaib wrote in Elle magazine that she was wearing the thobe to honor her mother, a who dropped out of school in the West Bank in eighth grade and worked as a tailor. “It fills me with joy to be able to show aspects of Palestinian culture,” she wrote. Dozens of other people have posted pictures on social media of themselves wearing thobes in honor of the occasion.

Tlaib, a Democrat from Michigan, is believed to be the first Democratic member of Congress to endorse the one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She has also said she supports the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel and has called for cuts to U.S. military aid to the Jewish state, all of which have led her to be criticized by Jewish groups.

Sarsour, one of the most prominent Muslim-American activists in America, is best known for her co-leadership of the Women’s March. She apologized in November for the organization’s handling of accusations of anti-Semitism and her and other leaders’ ties to the Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. Another Women’s March co-founder, Bob Bland, was also in attendance in front of Tlaib’s office.

Justin Amash, a Republican also from Michigan, became the first Palestinian-American congressman in 2011.

Contact Aiden Pink at pink@forward.com or on Twitter, @aidenpink

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

This year, we have stood together in strength and sorrow. Our Forward team has worked around the clock to help you find clarity amid the chaos.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism. 

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount