US lawmaker Rashida Tlaib condemns cartoon showing her with exploding pager

Palestinian American U.S. lawmaker Rashida Tlaib on Friday condemned as racist a cartoon published in the conservative magazine National Review showing her with an exploding pager - a reference to an attack this week against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

"Our community is already in so much pain right now. This racism will incite more hate + violence against our Arab & Muslim communities, and it makes everyone less safe. It's disgraceful that the media continues to normalize this racism," Tlaib wrote on the social media platform X.

Tlaib, a Democrat representing a Michigan district in the U.S. House of Representatives, is the lone Palestinian American lawmaker in the U.S. Congress. 

The Muslim American advocacy group Emgage Action, Democratic U.S. House members Cory Bush and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, some local officials in Michigan, and human rights groups also criticized the cartoon.

National Review has yet to respond to a request for comment.

The cartoon, published on Thursday, showed a woman sitting beside an exploding pager. 

The woman's desk in the cartoon has a name card saying "Rep. Tlaib," while the woman herself is shown saying, "ODD. MY PAGER JUST EXPLODED."

Henry Payne, a Detroit News auto critic, created the cartoon. Payne's X account titled the cartoon as "Tlaib Pager Hamas." The Detroit News said it was not involved in its creation and distribution and chose not to run it.

Tlaib has been a fierce critic of Israel's actions in the war and American support for the longtime U.S. ally.

Human rights advocates have cited the rising dehumanization of Arabs, Muslims, and Jews amid the war.

Reuters