AOC calls out Netanyahu for banning reps from visiting Israel in 2019
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called out Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday for his 2019 decision to bar "Squad" Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar from visiting Israel.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., called out Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday for his 2019 decision to ban Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., from visiting Israel.
Ocasio-Cortez joined MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan on Sunday and was asked about what the left-wing host called "congressional indifference to Palestinian life."
"Almost all of the at least 18 House Democrats who called for a cease-fire in Gaza are people of color. How much of the congressional indifference to Palestinian life in Gaza, the refusal in D.C. to acknowledge sometimes the humanity and innocence, not to mention the suffering of all ordinary Gazans, how much of that is driven by the fact that they’re Arabs? Or they're mostly all Muslims? Or they don’t look like us, do you think?" Hasan asked.
Ocasio-Cortez said she thought the "ignoring and the sidelining" of Palestinians in Congress was "quite shocking."
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined MSNBC's Mehdi Hasan on Sunday for an interview. (Screenshot / MSNBC)
‘SQUAD’ REP TLAIB IGNORES US INTEL ABOUT GAZA HOSPITAL, SIDES WITH HAMAS OVER BIDEN ADMIN
"We’ve been trying to raise the alarm bells around this for years. There has been virtually no acknowledgment in the United States House of Representatives about the extreme plight and continued human rights violations of the Palestinian people for years. I find it alarming. I found it shocking," she said.
"I found it shocking when, in 2019, or 2020 in our first term of the House of Representatives, when Prime Minister Netanyahu banned two United States sitting members of Congress from coming to Israel. Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar … from entering the country. That my own colleagues did not seem to say or do much of anything. That should be an affront to our entire government and country," Ocasio-Cortez continued.
Hasan also asked Ocasio-Cortez about Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., who announced he would be running for speaker of the House.
"He’s only served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives. The last thing that he did in the Oversight Committee was attempt to submit falsified evidence to an impeachment hearing. I think it helps to know where all the bathrooms are before you run for the U.S. House of Representatives, personally, and I think it helps to have some real experience in one of most complex legislative bodies in the world before you try to run it," she said.
Ocasio-Cortez also accused Israel of war crimes after condemning the attacks by Hamas.
"Hamas has absolutely engaged in horrific attacks. Every single day there are more details that are released about what occurred on Oct. 7th that shocks the human consciousness and shocks our conscience, our collective conscience," she said. "However, we do know as well that war crimes do not constitute, and are not an appropriate response, for other war crimes."
Tlaib and Omar both accused Israel of bombing a hospital in Gaza after Hamas said it was Israel's responsibility. Omar walked back her comments after President Biden's administration and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) determined that the explosion likely came from a misfired rocket from Islamic Jihad.
Tlaib's initial social media post that blamed Israel remains on her X account.
From left, "Squad" members Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., conduct a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center on July 15, 2019. (Tom Williams / CQ Roll Call)
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Fox News' Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.