In the latest Washington alphabet soup, AOC called AIPAC the “NRA of foreign policy.”
The progressive “Squad” member, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who has a long anti-Israel history, responded on social media to a post from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee stating that a “ceasefire now keeps these rapist monsters armed and in power in Gaza.”
AIPAC tagged AOC, along with eight other progressive members of Congress, both men and women. The pro-Israel group was responding to a report that the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel submitted to the United Nations.
A survivor of the Hamas massacre referred to an “apocalypse of bodies, girls without clothes, some missing their upper, some their lower parts,” per the report. The report adds that there is evidence that both men and women were sexually assaulted in captivity, and that “In many cases, it appears that the acts were committed in the presence of spouses or other family members who were forced to witness the violence.”
“It is appalling that AIPAC is targeting women members of Congress who have survived sexual assault with this horrific rhetoric,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote, without referring to the horrific testimony documented in the report.
“Each and every day, their role in U.S. politics becomes a greater scandal,” she added of the pro-Israel group. “They are the NRA of foreign policy. Of course, they don’t want a ceasefire.” (She apparently meant the National Rifle Association, rather than the National Restaurant Association.)
“It’s appalling that AOC will spread toxic lies about pro-Israel Americans but won’t condemn Hamas’ systematic rape of Israeli women. Won’t say a word about the victims. Won’t acknowledge the report. Won’t demand Hamas surrender. Why not?” AIPAC responded. “Pure anti-Israel hypocrisy and hate.”
“Did you just say that condemning Hamas for its sexual atrocities against women somehow offends female members of Congress? I am having difficulty discerning where your stupidity ends and your venality begins,” wrote David Friedman, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel.
Stephen Miller, a prominent conservative writer, wrote that the congresswoman’s response recalled a bit by Norm Macdonald. The late comedian, who died in 2021, told Jerry Seinfeld on a 2017 episode of “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” that he was told the worst part about the widespread accusations against Bill Cosby of sexual assault over decades was the actor’s hypocrisy.
“I thought it was the raping,” Macdonald deadpanned.
