Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accused Israel of “genocide” against the Palestinian people — the first time she has leveled the accusation against the Jewish state.
“If you want to know what an unfolding genocide looks like, open your eyes,” AOC said on the floor of the US House of Representatives Friday night. “It looks like the forced famine of 1.1 million innocents. It looks like thousands of children eating grass as their bodies consume themselves, while trucks of food are slowed and halted just miles away.”
The United States “must fulfill our obligations to the American people to suspend the transfer of US weapons to the Israeli government in order to stop and prevent further atrocities. Honoring our alliances does not mean facilitating mass killing,” Ocasio-Cortez contended.
Ocasio-Cortez, a Democratic Socialist and member of the far-left House Squad, has been among the most vocal critics of Israel, putting her at sharp odds with the vast majority of her own party and it’s leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn).
In her remarks, AOC made no mention of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel which left 1,200 dead, nor the dozens of Israeli and American hostages still being held prisoner by the terror group.
The speech represents an escalation in the language AOC has employed to describe the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
In January she declined to accuse the country of genocide, but noted “the fact that this word is even in play, the fact that this word is even in our discourse, I think demonstrates the mass inhumanity that Gazans are facing.”
Her House speech suggests Ocasio-Cortez has conceded to demands from those who have demanded more vocal condemnation of the Jewish state.
Earlier this month, she and fiancee Riley Roberts were heckled outside a Brooklyn movie theater by pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
“It’s not OK that there’s a genocide happening and you’re not actively against it,” a protester screeched at the lawmaker.
“You’re lying,” Ocasio-Cortez shot as she walked down an escalator with Roberts
