Jewish-owned Fort Lauderdale venue pulls plug on Rashida Tlaib rally days before Florida primary
A Jewish-owned event space in Fort Lauderdale canceled a progressive rally headlined by Rep. Rashida Tlaib just hours before it was set to begin, citing security concerns after learning the full scope of the event, forcing organizers to scramble for an outdoor backup.The Venue Fort Lauderdale posted a cancellation notice Thursday night after reviewing promotional materials for the "Chomp the Oligarchy" rally, which was scheduled for Friday evening, four days before Florida's Democratic primary.
The venue said it had become aware of the "full scope" of the gathering and could not proceed. Organizers moved the event to an alternate outdoor location, where roughly 300 supporters showed up and Tlaib appeared as planned.
The cancellation landed at the intersection of two fault lines running through the Democratic Party: an increasingly bitter fight between its progressive and establishment wings, and an unresolved reckoning over antisemitism that party leaders have spent years trying to manage.
Tlaib, the first Palestinian American woman elected to Congress, was censured by the full House in 2023 for embracing the slogan "from the river to the sea." She has described the phrase as "an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence" from Palestinians. Many Jewish Americans, and a bipartisan majority of her own colleagues, heard something very different.
The rally's organizers, operating under the banner of a progressive nonprofit called Gen Z for Change, posted on Instagram that they "will not be silenced by racist right-wing agitators and conservative Democrats." They pledged to "keep fighting to deliver for working-class Floridians."
The Washington Examiner reported that Gen Z for Change had actually lost two venue reservations for the event, not just one, a detail that underscores how toxic the Tlaib association had become for local businesses.
Read about it...
The cancellation landed at the intersection of two fault lines running through the Democratic Party: an increasingly bitter fight between its progressive and establishment wings, and an unresolved reckoning over antisemitism that party leaders have spent years trying to manage.
Tlaib, the first Palestinian American woman elected to Congress, was censured by the full House in 2023 for embracing the slogan "from the river to the sea." She has described the phrase as "an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence" from Palestinians. Many Jewish Americans, and a bipartisan majority of her own colleagues, heard something very different.
The rally's organizers, operating under the banner of a progressive nonprofit called Gen Z for Change, posted on Instagram that they "will not be silenced by racist right-wing agitators and conservative Democrats." They pledged to "keep fighting to deliver for working-class Floridians."
The Washington Examiner reported that Gen Z for Change had actually lost two venue reservations for the event, not just one, a detail that underscores how toxic the Tlaib association had become for local businesses.
Read about it...
