A South Florida rally headlined by Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan became the latest flashpoint in the Democratic Party’s internal battle over Israel, after a venue that had planned to host the event backed out.
The rally, in support of three progressive Democrats — two of whom are running for U.S. House seats and one for the Senate — was initially expected to take place at The Venue in Fort Lauderdale on Friday night, four days before the Florida primary election.
But on Thursday, State Representative Michael Gottlieb, a Democrat and the chairman of the Florida Legislative Jewish Caucus, issued a statement on social media describing the event as “anti-Jew.” He objected to the inclusion of Ms. Tlaib, an outspoken critic of the Israeli government, and expressed alarm that the event was being held at The Venue Fort Lauderdale, a 42,000-square-foot event space that regularly hosts bar and bat mitzvah celebrations. He said he was also concerned that the rally, called “Chomp the Oligarchy,” was being staged for people who are running against Jewish candidates.
Ms. Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member of Congress, has drawn criticism, and a 2023 censure in Congress, for embracing the slogan “from the river to the sea.” She describes the slogan as “an aspirational call for freedom” for Palestinians, but many Jews consider it a call for the eradication of Israel.
The Venue’s management reached out to both Mr. Gottlieb and rally organizers. They asked him to take down his statement, he recalled, and he said no.
They also told organizers that they would not host the event unless Ms. Tlaib was disinvited, said Cameron Driggers, a lead organizer.
The organizers said no, Mr. Driggers recalled.
On Thursday, The Venue’s management issued a statement saying the establishment had pulled out after becoming aware of the “nature of the event” and reviewing promotional materials.
“Due to the increased security concerns as well as the welfare of attendees and staff, the decision was then made that the event would not proceed at our property,” the statement said. “The Venue Fort Lauderdale is Jewish-owned and operated and our values and commitment to the Jewish community are deeply important to us.”
Representatives for Ms. Tlaib did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Mr. Driggers said organizers had to scramble to find another venue — two other establishments agreed to step in, only to cancel on them, too, he recalled — before they finally found a space that would host the event. The rally was expected to proceed Friday night at a Fort Lauderdale wine bar.
Organizers wrote in a statement Friday that the event would take place despite a “vile and Islamophobic intimidation campaign from right-wing agitators and conservative Democrats.”
“Establishment Democrats and MAGA extremists are watching our movement grow, and instead of trying to meet young voters where they are, they’re desperately trying to cling to power by silencing us,” said a statement signed by Mr. Driggers and the three people the rally was meant to support: Elijah Manley and Oliver Larkin, both House candidates, and State Representative Angie Nixon, who is seeking her party’s nomination for a Senate race.
Mr. Gottlieb said in his statement Thursday that he was concerned about past comments by Ms. Tlaib, and bothered that the three candidates were all running against Jewish Democrats in Florida primaries on Tuesday. Mr. Manley faces Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz in an open race that she jumped into after the Florida Legislature drew her out of her current district. Mr. Larkin is challenging Representative Jared Moskowitz. And Ms. Nixon is running against Alex Vindman in a Senate race that will pit the primary winner against Senator Ashley Moody, a Republican who was appointed to the former seat of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
In an interview Friday, Mr. Gottlieb said he is part of “a very middle-of-the-road Democrat community.” He said local Democrats did not “want to be bogged down with the kind of nonsense that is involved in the activities of groups such as this.”
Mr. Driggers argued in an interview that critics of the event were engaged in a “cynical” effort to twist criticism of the Israeli government to cast it as antisemitic. The rally, he added, was “not about Israel-Palestine.”
“It’s about building a Florida that works for working people,” he said.
