Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez prompts outrage in US for accurately referring to Israel's 'occupation'

[sandensea]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by muriel_volestrangler (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: The Independent

Democratic congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has described Israel’s presence in the West Bank as an “occupation”, in a marked deviation from the pro-Israel line taken by both Democratic and Republican parties.

Israel has been occupying the West Bank territory since the 1967 Middle East war, according to the United Nations (UN), and most countries regard the continued building of Jewish settlements in the disputed territory as illegal.

But for the last two decades, the establishment wings of both the Republican and Democratic Party have largely taken pro-Israel positions, with both calling for the disputed city of Jerusalem to be recognised as the Jewish nation’s capital.

“What people are starting to see, at least in the occupation of Palestine, is just an increasing crisis of humanitarian condition and that to me is just where I tend to come from on this issue,” Ms. Ocasio Cortez told PBS News during a television interview,

Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/alexandria-ocasiocortez-israel-palestine-occupation-us-west-bank-outrage-us-a8450781.html

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[PaulX2]

1. Good For Her

You can never have peace if Israel is allowed to do anything the want with our support.

[TomCADem]

9. Ditto. It is what it is.

[former9thward]

2. Is a four year old picture the most recent one you can find?

Or are trying to make people believe it is recent?

[sandensea]

5. So then we can't use photos from the Holocaust?

Nonsense. Of course we can, and must - all the more so for one that's ongoing.

A human rights atrocity is the same whether it happens to Jews, Muslims, Central Americans, or anyone else.

[Mosby]

20. Israelis defending themselves is an "atrocity"? Is that your position?

[sinkingfeeling]

3. Can't argue it's not an occupation when you write, "Israel has

been occupying the West Bank territory since the 1967 Middle East war, "

[sandensea]

6. That's in the article, yes. It happens to be the truth.

And universally recognized as such - except for certain miscreants among us.

?resize=678%2C381

[Mosby]

21. It's a legal occupation per the oslo accords

Signed by arafat himself.

https://www.history.com/topics/oslo-accords

[leftynyc]

4. Was this before or after

she sounded thoroughly ignorant and admitted she knew very little about geopolitical problems?

Democratic congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez decried the “occupation of Palestine” during a television interview, but stumbled when pressed to explain what she meant.

Appearing July 13 on PBS’s “Firing Line,” Ocasio-Cortez, 28, admitted that she was “not the expert” on the issue, drawing accusations that she was “clueless.”

https://www.timesofisrael.com/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-criticizes-israel-for-the-occupation-of-palestine/

[Trust Buster]

7. With her being a newbie, I am already tired of hearing about her everyday. What's up with her ?

[leftynyc]

8. No idea

but there is no excuse to spout off about something she clearly knows NOTHING about and probably overheard at some party.

[LanternWaste]

15. I think the excuse is that she was responding to the question asked of her.

While simultaneously admitting (more than one time) that she herself lacks the relevant knowledge to speak of it with any depth.

I've got no fish to fry in this particular market, however I did watch the interview this past weekend, and the host directed questions to her regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts.

[Dopers_Greed]

10. Can she just focus on winning her congressional race?

Or could this be a possible Repug pick-up?

[3Hotdogs]

13. She will win the seat. Her district is Dem. and they don't much give much of a shit

about pleasing Israeli supporters in the U.S.

I would guess they are more worried about jobs, cost of living, health care and immigration.

[pansypoo53219]

11. the truth hurts. palestine WAS a country.

[leftynyc]

14. What truth?

The one she admitted she knew nothing about?

[EX500rider]

18. When was Palestine a country?

[Mosby]

19. No it wasn't

There has never been a country called "Palestine"

The area was called Palestine by western powers, this is the provisional flag from a french atlas:

[murielm99]

12. Why is she out roaming the countryside?

Doesn't she have a campaign to conduct? If she is so popular in her home district, she should be canvassing there to GOTV for other Democratic candidates on the ballot at home.

Why is she campaigning against sitting Democrats? I am beginning to think she is not very mature.

[HopeAgain]

16. She is generating excitement on the left

I know that makes a lot of people nervous. Change will be hard for some...

"Sitting Democrats" are not untouchable, that's the way democracy works.

[onenote]

17. Not a smart move on her part

She didn't need to say it to win votes in her own district. That's a lock. And the Jewish vote in her district isn't that substantial as I understand it.

But the Jewish vote is substantial in other parts of New York and she may have created a situation where other Democratic candidates may get asked whether they agree with her characterization (and implicitly if not explicitly whether they support her) -- a question that essentially invites them to throw her under the bus.

[DinahMoeHum]

22. Agreed. She's NOT a Congresswoman. . .YET.

And she still has work to do in her own district to get more people to show up for the November general elections.
Remember, there was very low turnout in her district for the primary. She has to now reach out to constituents who sat home and get their rears to the voting booth come November.

[muriel_volestrangler]

23. Locking - this is click bait, not "important news of national interest"

The "outrage in US" consists of:

Hillel Neur, an outspoken Israeli advocate and director of Geneva-based non-governmental organisation United Nations Watch, which monitors comments on Israel, said in a Twitter post: “Just by asking @TeenVogue fave Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez simple questions about her condemnation of Israel, @MargaretHoover of @PBS @FiringLineShow outdoes @SachaBaronCohen in exposing the silliness of politicians.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillel_Neuer (they misspelled the name) - Canadian-born, works in Switzerland, no connection to the US. And pretty much any org ending in "Watch" is a collection of partisan hacks, not worth making the basis of an important story. And "silly" isn't that 'outraged'.

And:

Twitter user Jeffret Rabin said in a post: “Scary. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticises Israel for ‘the occupation of Palestine.’”

'Jeffret Rabin' only turns up in this article, so that's a misspelling too. Various 'Jeffrey Rabin's on the internet, but I can't find the tweet for this, and who are they? No evidence they're American, and who cares about 1 comment from a private individual? That just calls her comments "scary"? There's no "outrage".

Those are the only 2 responses. "Storm in a teacup" is being generous to this story - click bait, which the Independent is becoming more prone to, sadly.