‘Wake the F@#K Up Shri’: Palestine Supporters Storm Indian American Congressman’s Michigan Home
- Claiming that the first-term U.S. representative Shri Thanedar was “silent” on the atrocities in Gaza, the Palestine sympathizers said they wanted to punish him.
U.S. Congressman Shri Thanedar of Michigan was woken up early on Sunday morning to car horns and loud screams as a group of Palestine supporters descended on his home. They said they wanted to punish the Indian American lawmaker for what they claimed was his “silence.” on the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza amid Israel’s war with Hamas.
A video posted on X showed cars lined in the street outside his home, an individual waving a cloth-like material, and others screaming through megaphones.
“You are complicit in the bombing of Gaza… Your silence is violence. Your silence is abhorrent, and we will not let you sleep!” one protester can be heard screaming, adding that “there will be a price to pay.” Another protester in the video is shown holding a sign that read, “20,000 GAZANS DEAD! WAKE THE F–K UP SHRI!!!”
Thanedar has faced criticism from fellow Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian member of Congress, and former staff member Adam Y. Abusalah. It began when Thanedar criticized Tlaib’s failure to mention Hamas’ violence in her initial statement. In response, she railed against Thanedar. “While he is busy posting memes, his residents are calling my office asking for my assistance because he is absent from doing his job,” Tlaib said in a statement to the Detroit News. “He isn’t putting in the work of a public servant and is leaving his working-class communities across his district with no real advocate.”
A few days later, Abusalah, Thanedar’s former communications director, in a thread on X, slammed the congressman, calling him “a hallow, racist, unethical and a bad boss.”
Earlier this month, Thanedar’s campaign account on X was hacked. “Israel has paid off politicians for far too long. I know this means I’ll lose AIPAC financial support but I don’t need it. We need to come together to #FreePalestine from the terrorist state of Israel,” read the Dec. 5 post which has since been deleted. “I was just hacked, and a misleading tweet was sent from my account,” Thanedar wrote on X. “I have deleted the tweet and taken steps to secure my account. In a follow-up message, he expressed “steadfast” support for the country, and called for the U.S. “to provide resources without conditions for Israel to achieve its objectives” to destroy Hamas and secure the return of hostages.”
I was just hacked, and a misleading tweet was sent from my account. I have deleted the tweet and taken steps to secure my account. My official statement on Israel is below: pic.twitter.com/XxBXfsoD2I
— Shri Thanedar (@ShriThanedar) December 5, 2023
In October, a few days after the attack, Thanedar renounced his membership in the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), for its unwillingness “to call out terrorism in all its forms.” After “the brutal terrorist attacks” on Israel over the weekend, “which included the indiscriminate murder, rape, and kidnapping of innocent men, women, and children, I can no longer associate with an organization unwilling to call out terrorism in all its forms,” he said in a statement.
In an earlier interview with The Federalist, he called out the DSA for its response to Hamas’ attack on Israel. “What the DSA missed here is that this is a terrorist attack, the biggest murdering of Jewish people since the Holocaust,” he said. “I am not very proud of the DSA at this time as a member of that organization.”According to the conservative online magazine and podcast, the Indian American was “just one out of the six representatives affiliated with the DSA who responded to its inquiries to condemn the group’s defense of Hamas.”
However, as The Detroit News noted, Thanedar “hasn’t always been an avowed supporter of Israel.” As a state lawmaker in 2021, ‘he co-sponsored a resolution that referred to Israel as an ‘apartheid’ state and called on Congress to end military aid to the nation,” the report said. This stance led “a pro-Israel super political action committee affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee to spend $4 million in the Democratic primary last year in support of one of his opponents, former state Sen. Adam Hollier. The former Michigan state senator and military veteran is once again challenging the first-term Congressman who represents the state’s 13th district.
Thanedar, an India-born-and-raised entrepreneur and self-made millionaire defeated his Black Republican challenger Martell Bivings by a landslide from an overwhelmingly Democratic district. His win was significant given that he is the first non-Black representative in over 70 years from the newly redrawn 13th District which covers most of Detroit, Hamtramck, the Grosse Pointes, and the Downriver communities. He occupies the seat held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Brenda Lawrence of Southfield, who retired at the end of her term.