Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) danced around saying whether or not she believed Israel’s bombardment of Gaza is genocide.
On NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Ocasio-Cortez, one portion of the progressive lawmakers that make up “The Squad,” took the stance that people using the word “genocide” to describe Israel’s attacks should not be disregarded.
“Whether you are an individual that believes this is a genocide — which, by the way, in our polling, we are seeing large amounts of Americans concerned specifically with that word. So I don’t think that it is something to completely toss someone out of our public discourse for using,” Ocasio-Cortez told journalist Kristen Welker.
On Sunday, the progressive congresswoman, who has previously called for a cease-fire and condemned Hamas, did not herself use the word “genocide” to describe Israel’s unrelenting barrage of attacks in Gaza. Instead, she referred to young people’s response to the general violence of the conflict.
“Some of your colleagues have accused the president of supporting genocide, including Rashida Tlaib. Do you agree with that word, ‘genocide,’ that the president’s been supporting a genocide, or does that go too far?” Welker asked.
“I think what we are seeing right now throughout the country is that young people are appalled at the violence and the indiscriminate loss of life,” Ocasio-Cortez responded.
She also pointed out that the International Court of Justice has not yet determined whether Israel is committing genocide but still said that Israel has a responsibility to prevent it.
“The fact that [the ICJ] said there’s a responsibility to prevent it, the fact that this word is even in play, the fact that this word is even in our discourse, I think demonstrates the mass inhumanity that Gazans are facing,” Ocasio-Cortez added.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, killed 1,200 people and took roughly 200 others hostage during an attack on Israel.
While tensions between Israel and Gaza existed long before Hamas’ attack, Israeli soldiers have killed more than 26,000 people and injured 64,400 others while displacing at least 1.9 million people since then.
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