Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) condemned the rally in New York City that cheered Hamas terrorism in Israel and was promoted by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) — a group with which she and other members of the “Squad” are affiliated.
Ocasio-Cortez, who the DSA has called its “foremost socialist superstar,” denounced the rally as “unacceptable and harmful” in a Politico article published Tuesday. Politico noted her comments came on Monday night.
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“It should not be hard to shut down hatred and antisemitism where we see it. That is a core tenet of solidarity,” she said, adding:
The bigotry and callousness expressed in Times Square on Sunday were unacceptable and harmful in this devastating moment. It also did not speak for the thousands of New Yorkers who are capable of rejecting both Hamas’ horrifying attacks against innocent civilians as well as the grave injustices and violence Palestinians face under occupation.
U.S. Reps. Ilhan Abdullahi Omar (D-MN)(L), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) (2R), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on July 15, 2019. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Breitbart News reported on Ocasio-Cortez and fellow DSA-backed squad members’ silence on Monday evening. Ocasio-Cortez did not respond to Breitbart News’s comment request asking if she condemned the rally, nor did staff for Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), or Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). All except Tlaib condemned Hamas’s attacks in comments over the weekend.
“The path to that future must include lifting the blockade, ending the occupation, and dismantling the apartheid system that creates the suffocating, dehumanizing conditions that can lead to resistance,” Tlaib said in part before attacking U.S. aid to Israel.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) blames Israel for the Palestinian terrorist attacks that have killed hundreds
Tlaib, who is Palestinian, does not condemn the attacks and calls for the U.S. to defund Israel pic.twitter.com/Llc4Lsrns8
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) October 8, 2023
“As long as our country provides billions in unconditional funding to support the apartheid government, this heartbreaking cycle of violence will continue,” Tlaib said.
At least 1,200 Israelis were killed, per the AFP citing the nation’s Army, and another 2,700 have been wounded. Moreover, 150 Israelis were kidnapped.
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According to Politico, the DSA’s New York City arm contended it did not organize the rally but merely promoted it.
“In a statement, NYC-DSA Steering Committee Member Nadia Tykulsker said the group promoted the event ‘at the request of a coalition partner because we believe in equality and justice for all Palestinians and Israelis, and we know that war will take more lives.’”
According to a screen capture from Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), the DSA’s New York chapter posted the time and date of the rally on X on Saturday night, hours after the attacks. However, the post appears to have been deleted from its page.
The NYC-DSA is planning to hold a rally tomorrow, glorifying the terrorism of Hamas as “resistance.” Never mind the hundreds of Israeli civilians and children who have been murdered, wounded, abducted, and terrorized. Their lives mean nothing to the DSA. Nothing.
The NYC-DSA is… pic.twitter.com/FDaWgBtGEJ
— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) October 7, 2023
“Tomorrow, October 8, at 1PM. Times Square,” it read. “In solidarity with the Palestinian people and their right to resist 75 years of occupation and apartheid. FREE PALESTINE!”
Torres ripped the “NYC-DSA” as “an antisemitic stain on the soul of America’s largest city.”
The DSA’s national X account on Saturday night shared that it “is steadfast in expressing our solidarity with Palestine”:
DSA is steadfast in expressing our solidarity with Palestine.
Today’s events are a direct result of Israel’s apartheid regime—a regime that receives billions in funding from the United States.
End the violence. End the Occupation. Free Palestine. 1/5
— DSA (@DemSocialists) October 8, 2023
“Today’s events are a direct result of Israel’s apartheid regime—a regime that receives billions in funding from the United States,” it added. In a subsequent tweet, it condemned “the killing of all civilians.”
On Wednesday, Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI) renounced his DSA membership:
I renounce my membership in the DSA pic.twitter.com/rtpxStKW2Q
— Congressman Shri Thanedar (@RepShriThanedar) October 11, 2023
“After the brutal terrorist attacks on Israel, which included the indiscriminate murder, rape, and kidnapping of innocent men, women, and children, I can no longer associate with an organization unwilling to call out terrorism in all its forms,” a statement from Thanedar reads.
He added the New York City rally on Sunday “makes it impossible for me to continue my affiliation” and declared, “I stand with Israel.”