AOC Says ‘Progressive Movement Is Undermined’ When Israel Criticism ‘Crosses a Line’ Into Antisemitism

(Alamy Live News via AP)

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) warned that the “progressive movement is undermined” when criticism of the Israeli government turns to antisemitism.

Ocasio-Cortez, along with other members of the progressive congressional “Squad,” has called for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict amid thousands of civilian casualties in Gaza . Israel has said strikes will continue until Hamas is eliminated following the terror group killing more than 1,0000 and kidnapping hundreds in an Oct. 7 attack .

Ocasio-Cortez hosted a talk on Monday with Jewish Council for Public Affairs CEO Amy Spitalnick and public policy strategist and activist Stacy Burdett centered on rising reports of antisemitism in the United States amid college campus protests condemning Israel’s government.

The New York congresswoman stressed that criticism of Israel is not automatically antisemitic, but stressed that antisemitism is “on the rise.” When rhetoric “crosses a line,” she argued, into hateful speech then it “undermines” the “progressive movement.”

“Criticism of the Israeli government is not inherently antisemitic and criticism of zionism is not automatically antisemitic. That being true does not mean that we should not recognize criticism and when that criticism crosses a line into real harms against our Jewish community,” she said. “Antisemitism is an assault on our values as Americans and especially as progressives.”

“Acknowledging” that antisemitism is on the rise, she added, “does not take away from fights for liberation.”

“When the Jewish community is threatened, the progressive movement is undermined,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “That’s why it’s so important that we reject it as fiercely as we reject and look for misogyny, Islamophobia, or any form of bigotry and discrimination in any space that we occupy.”

Ocasio-Cortez later noted during the discussion that “many people” in the progressive movement have argued that “false and weaponizing accusations” of antisemitism have been used to “detract from the broader critique that they’re making about the very real reality on the ground.”