Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) alleged that Palestinian children are being put in cages during a February 13 event.
Jewish Insider (JI) reported that Ocasio-Cortez was speaking at a campaign rally for Greg Casar, who is running for Congress in Texas. She was heckled by pro-Palestinian protesters at the rally; in response, Ocasio-Cortez declared that she supports “the rights of Palestinians and Palestinian children.” She went on to say that “believing in the basic human dignity and the ability for a person to not be jailed or beaten for who they are… does not mean that you are bigoted against any other community” and that “I don’t believe that a child should be in a cage on our border and I don’t believe a child should be in a cage in the West Bank.”
Her remark on cages resulted in criticism on Twitter.
“.@AOC, you know as well as we do that there are no Palestinian children ‘in cages’ in the West Bank,” the American Jewish Committee tweeted. “This kind of gross misinformation hurts chances for reasonable discussion and furthers harmful biases. You must apologize for these baseless allegations.”
.@AOC, you know as well as we do that there are no Palestinian children "in cages" in the West Bank.
This kind of gross misinformation hurts chances for reasonable discussion and furthers harmful biases.
You must apologize for these baseless allegations.https://t.co/E1cYf4wf1S
— American Jewish Committee (@AJCGlobal) February 15, 2022
“.@RepAOC demonizing Jews at a time of raging #Antisemitism in NYC,” the Simon Wiesenthal Center similarly tweeted. “Throwing children into cages is [inhumane] and cruel. Prove it or apologize. You are legitimizing hatred against Jewish people everywhere.”
.@RepAOC demonizing Jews at a time of raging #Antisemitism in NYC. Throwing children into cages is inhuman and cruel. Prove it or apologize. You are legitimizing hatred against Jewish people everywhere. https://t.co/8k9yEbj2tN
— SimonWiesenthalCntr (@simonwiesenthal) February 15, 2022
“This should go without saying, but Israel does not have children in cages in the West Bank, @AOC,” Israel War Room tweeted. “This vicious libel mirrors the libels that have plagued Jewish civilization for centuries.”
This should go without saying, but Israel does not have children in cages in the West Bank, @AOC. This vicious libel mirrors the libels that have plagued Jewish civilization for centuries. https://t.co/FusLvw8zJ3
— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) February 15, 2022
United With Israel similarly tweeted: “Dear @AOC, I also don’t believe that children should be in cages. Please reply with one example of a Palestinian child being held in a cage by the State of Israel. Ever. Looking forward to hearing from you, Israel.”
Dear @AOC,
I also don't believe that children should be in cages. Please reply with one example of a Palestinian child being held in a cage by the State of Israel. Ever.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Israel https://t.co/B82JPvGDBr— United With Israel (@UniteWithIsrael) February 15, 2022
The JI report also noted that earlier on February 13, Ocasio-Cortez was also heckled by pro-Palestinian protesters at another event put on by the local Democratic Socialists of America chapter in Austin, TX. Ocasio-Cortez responded to the protesters there by arguing that the word “Palestine” is “banned” and “censored.” “We don’t talk about it,” she said. “No one knows about it,” she said. “Thank you for bringing it up, honestly, because we shouldn’t have to tiptoe around these things.”
