City Commissioner under fire for saying Muslim member of Congress might “blow up Capitol Hill”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations is calling for Hallandale Beach Commissioner Annabelle Lima-Taub to resign following her Facebook post accusing newly elected Democratic U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan of plotting to “blow up Capitol Hill.”

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported on Monday night that Lima-Taub had written alongside a Facebook petition to remove Tlaib from office, saying “A Hamas-loving anti-Semite has NO place in government! She is a danger and (I) would not put it past her to become a martyr and blow up Capitol Hill.”

The post has since been removed.

Tlaib became the first Palestinian-American woman ever elected to Congress and simultaneously one of the first two Muslim women ever in Congress following last November’s midterm election. She made national news earlier this month after she said she’d help Democrats “impeach the motherf***er”, referring to President Trump, shortly after she was sworn into office.

“Holding a public office comes with great responsibilities,” said CAIR-Florida Communications Director Wilfredo Ruiz in a statement. “Xenophobic stereotypes must not be embraced by any elected official. CAIR-Florida strongly condemns the disgraceful racist and Islamophobic statements published by Commissioner Annabelle Lima-Taub. Her un-American, xenophobic statements establish that she is unfit to hold the Commissioner’s seat. She must apologize immediately and follow up that apology with her resignation.”

Lima-Taub’s Facebook profile says she prides herself on being a “non-conventional” politician. She was born in Haifa, Israel and raised in New York, according to her biography page on the city of Hallandale Beach’s government website.

Tlaib blamed President Trump for Lima-Taub’s comments.

“This sort of hateful anti-Muslim rhetoric doesn’t happen in a vacuum – this president embraced it and Republicans have happily gone along with it,” Tlaib tweeted on Tuesday morning.

This sort of hateful anti-Muslim rhetoric doesn’t happen in a vacuum – this President embraced it and Republicans have happily gone along with it.https://t.co/3THoHQmRVy

— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) January 15, 2019

Tlaib herself has faced extreme criticism for her comment about Trump, with many senior Washington Democrats backing away from her remark.