Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a member of the progressive “Squad” in the U.S. House of Representatives, faced off with far-left activists on Monday who are angry that she has not embraced their extremist rhetoric labeling Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip as an effort to exterminate all Palestinians.
The 34-year-old legislator denied their assertion, saying that she had indeed used the term “genocide” to describe the conflict that began on Oct. 7 when Hamas terrorists infiltrated the southern border with Israel and murdered 1,200 people, wounded thousands and dragged more than 250 men, women and children back into Gaza—134 who are still being held captive there, with 32 presumed to be dead.
At around 5 p.m. at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Brooklyn, N.Y., Ocasio-Cortez encountered anti-Israel activists on March 4 who began filming her. “It’s not OK that there’s a genocide happening, and you’re not actively against it,” a protester filming Ocasio-Cortez with an iPhone said. The congresswoman shot back that he was lying.
When asked by the activists if she feared that the video would go viral, she responded: “You’re gonna cut it … and you’re gonna clip this so that it’s completely out of context.”
Finally, Ocasio-Cortez insisted to the man wearing a mask and videoing her on his phone that she had already described Israel’s action as a genocide, and “y’all are just gonna pretend that it wasn’t over and over again. It’s f****** up, man.” As the congresswoman walked off, she accused the protesters of not helping the people of Gaza.
The New York Post pointed out that as late as the end of January, Ocasio-Cortez had declined to label Israel as engaging in genocide when pushed to do so in a “Meet the Press” appearance.
