(TargetDailyNews.com) – New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is the latest politician on the left to get caught up in the increasing schism among Democrats and Progressives about the war between Israel and Hamas.
Pro-Palestinian protests have broken out across American cities and college campuses, usually led by hard-left activists and voters. Many call Israel’s defense of itself after the Hamas attack on October 7th, 2023, a “genocide,” and they are pressuring U.S. politicians to do something to rein in Israel.
But an unruly group of protesters in New York City that caught up with AOC in Brooklyn outside the Alamo Draft House cinema seemed most interested in forcing the Representative to say a particular word.
One protester said, “You refused to call it a genocide,” to which AOC retorted “This is not OK.”
The protester turned it around, saying that what was “not OK” was the fact of, as she saw it, an ongoing genocide and that AOC was not taking an active enough stance against it.
Visibly irritated, AOC shouted back at the protester, “You’re lying!” The group of protesters followed the Congresswoman down an escalator and continued to yell at her for not specifically calling the Israeli response “genocide”.
During the shouting, they cited the 30,000 lost Palestinian lives since the conflict began. It is difficult to get precise and trustworthy figures of casualties during wars, and these numbers are reported by the Palestinian Health Authority. Some observers are skeptical of the total and point out that it does not break down how many Hamas fighters, women, children, or civilians, are included in the count.
Like many hardcore activists, those shouting at AOC used a confrontational approach while claiming to be acting reasonably. One heckler said, “We’re just talking to you like normal people,” and then immediately followed up with a command to AOC to “Just say it.” Another claimed that all they wanted AOC to do was just to say the specific word “genocide.” It is not clear how AOC using that word would have any effect on the Middle Eastern Conflict.
Protesters followed AOC and her fiancé—who asked the group to stop pestering them—as they continued walking, provoking the Congresswoman to respond. She said that she had previously called the conflict a “genocide,” and then accused the hecklers of being likely to clip the video to take her words out of context to make her look bad.
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