New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defended pro-Hamas Democrats who oppose President Biden’s position on Israel and downplayed pro-Palestinian lawmakers and activists calling the president “Genocide Joe,” the Washington Times reported.
In a January 28 interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press,” Ocasio-Cortez said young people in the country have been “appalled at the violence” in Gaza and what she claimed was “the indiscriminate loss of life.”
She said pro-Palestinian activists believe that it is the president’s “responsibility to prevent it” and the fact that the word “genocide” was “in our discourse” revealed the “mass inhumanity” faced by the Palestinians in Gaza.
Ocasio-Cortez’s fellow Squad member Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) has for months accused President Biden of supporting and facilitating so-called genocide in Gaza by supporting Israel in the war.
Tlaib’s rhetoric prompted the House to vote to censure her in November.
Ocasio-Cortez defended Tlaib and the other members of the Squad, saying that polls show that “large amounts” of voters were concerned about genocide and said she didn’t believe that someone should be tossed “out of our public discourse” for using the word “genocide.”
Tlaib and fellow Squad member Cori Bush last Wednesday were the only two members of the House to vote against a bill that would bar Hamas and other Palestinians who participated in the October 7 terror attacks from entering the United States.
The bill, “No Immigration Benefits for Hamas Terrorists Act” overwhelmingly passed the House in a 422 to 2 vote, with Illinois Democrat Delia Ramirez voting present.
While terrorists from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are already barred from entering the United States under existing laws, the new bill expanded the prohibition to include officers from the Palestinian Liberation Organization, the governing body of Gaza, as well as any individual who took part in the October 7 attacks.
Tlaib accused Republican lawmakers of using the bill to “incite” hatred against Arabs, Muslims, and Palestinians.
