Arizona State University cancels event with Rashida Tlaib after she defends destruction of Israel

Arizona State University has apparently decided to cancel its event with U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib, someone who has called for the complete annihilation of Israel.

Tlaib has come under fire from colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives for suggesting that Hamas was right to launch the attack on October 7, and that the complete destruction of the Jewish state is a good thing. The New York Post reported that the now-canceled event was put on by the Arizona Palestine Network, which is not affiliated with the university.

The event was apparently canceled because the group did not follow the appropriate procedures. Tlaib was supposed to speak on Friday about how the issue in Palestine is an American issue.

The cancellation comes as several colleges and universities around the U.S. have been forced to address the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, as student-led groups and faculty have expressed anti-Semitic rhetoric in their support of Palestine.

A spokesperson for the Arizona Palestine Network told Fox News Digital that "[t]he event featuring Congresswoman Tlaib was planned and produced by groups not affiliated with ASU and was organized outside of ASU policies and procedures. Accordingly, that event will not take place today on the ASU Tempe campus."

However, the Arizona Palestine Network believed the university's decision to be unacceptable, claiming that "Rashida Tlaib must be heard on campus as the only Palestinian member of Congress who plans to speak on an American issue at this event."

"ASU cannot claim to hold free speech as a principle while denying Palestinians their voices on campus. Cancelling this event puts the university in direct contradiction with its charter as a university ‘measured not by whom it excludes, but by whom it includes and how they succeed,'" the group said.

Blaze News reported earlier this week that Tlaib appears to have garnered steep disapproval of the Jewish community in Michigan's 13th Congressional District. And it does not appear she has made an effort to reach out to the Jewish community there.

Since Hamas' brutal attack on Jewish civilians in early October, Tlaib has refused to condemn the attack, instead launching criticisms at Israel for its response to the attack.

Rabbi Aaron Starr, who is the head of a prominent Jewish congregation in Tlaib's district, said that the congresswoman has failed to reach out, adding that "she has responded to my efforts to communicate with her with misleading form letters."

Starr concluded that Tlaib "is siding with the terrorist organization Hamas."

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