House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has canceled an event scheduled at the U.S. Capitol, which was to be hosted by Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.
The event was intended to decry Israel as a "catastrophe" for Palestinians and the world, marking the "Nakba," a Palestinian term for the 1948 founding of Israel that translates to "catastrophe."
McCarthy, who deemed Tlaib's plans "antisemitic," used his seniority to reserve the event space for himself. Instead, the event will commemorate Israel's 75th anniversary, which will land on May 14.
McCarthy tweeted late Tuesday that "this event at the U.S. Capitol is canceled. Instead, I will host a bipartisan discussion to honor the 75th anniversary of the U.S.-Israel relationship." Neither McCarthy's office nor Tlaib's immediately responded to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Tlaib has a long history of attacks on Israel. She derided the country as an "apartheid state" earlier in May, claiming it was founded on the "ethnic cleansing" of Palestinians. In that instance, Tlaib's comments were widely rejected on Twitter, where users quickly applied the "community notes" fact-check feature.
Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations Gilad Erdan also told Fox News Digital the comments were an example of the Democrat's "antisemitic lies."
"Tlaib's ignorance and hatred toward the Jewish people and the State of Israel know no bounds," Erdan said. "The facts are clear: the Arabs rejected the U.N.'s resolution to establish a Jewish state and started a war to annihilate the Jews in Israel."
McCarthy decided to cancel Tlaib's event as Israel's Iron Dome defense system warded off waves of rockets launched out of Gaza on Wednesday morning. The attack came in response to three Israeli airstrikes that killed a trio of senior members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group.
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