United States Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) said during an interview Tuesday that criticizing Israel does not mean being an anti-Semite or anti-Israel.
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AOC was interviewed on New York radio station Hot 97’s morning show “Ebro in the Morning” with Ibrahim "Ebro" Darden when she spoke about Israeli-Palestine conflict.
“Criticizing the occupation doesn't make you anti-Israel, frankly. It doesn't mean that you are against the existence of a nation,” AOC added.
“It means that you believe in human rights, and it's about making sure that Palestinian human rights are equal to Israeli human rights, and there are a lot of troubling things happening there.”
AOC also said the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are helping spread the discourse of equating criticism with anti-Semitism.
“The Right wants to advance this notion that if you engage and critique an Israeli policy you are anti-Semitic," she said. "But it’s the furthest thing from the truth.”
“Jewish people have been persecuted throughout all of human history, but I don't think that by marginalizing Palestinians, you create safety,” she added.
“I believe that injustice is a threat to the safety of all people, because once you have a group that is marginalized and marginalized and marginalized — once someone doesn't have access to clean water, they have no choice but to riot, right? And it doesn't have to be that way,” AOC said concluding the interview.
AOC and her fellow Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Ayanna Pressley have come under fire from Trump and his supporters for their criticism of Israel’s behavior towards Palestinians. They are also due to go on a trip to the West Bank in an attempt to document the lives of Palestinians under the Israeli occupation.