Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a US representative, said on Wednesday that she will oppose any future US military aid to Israel, including for defensive systems.
In a statement on social media, Ocasio-Cortez said that Israel was fully capable of funding “Iron Dome and other defensive systems”, and that “consistent with my voting record to date, I will not support Congress sending more taxpayer dollars and military aid to a government that consistently ignores international law and US law”.
Her remarks on Wednesday follow reports that she pledged to oppose any future military aid to Israel during a New York City Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) forum on Tuesday evening.
“Our allies who need our military aid must understand that we will provide it consistent with the Leahy amendment and the foreign assistance act”, Ocasio-Cortez added, referring to a law which prohibits the US from providing military support to army units that violate human rights.
According to City & State, which obtained a partial recording of the DSA forum, Ocasio-Cortez told members: “I have not once ever voted to authorize funding to Israel, and I will never,” adding that “the Israeli government should be able to finance their own weapons if they seek to arm themselves.”
jfc, like, click the fucking link. Just click the fucking link. Its queued to the time stamp you need to be reminded of what happened regarding these votes. Its right fucking there. Just click it.
I can’t help people not knowing or remember what happened during house debates in 2021. I’m sorry if your memory isn’t good enough to remember what happened in the house four years ago. She switched her vote from No to Present in a 2021 package for funding Israel’s Iron Dome. She also voted for the resolution which redefined criticism of Israel as anti-antisemitism. Even later she voted against an amendment (led by MTG) to defund Israels Iron Dome. That last one specifically was her getting outflanked by MTG, because later, AOC goes on to vote against the entire bill.
This is how AOC justified it at the time:
This ends up being a completely unforced error since she went on to vote against the entire bill. Instead of taking a strong stance and being on the right side of an issue out the gate, she comes out as calculating, both sides, and then ultimately votes against when it wouldn’t stop it anyways.
Ilhan Omar, Rashida Talib, Summer lee: They didn’t make those mistakes. AOC is pivoting, which is good. AOC was not good in acting as part of a unified front against the funding of a zionist genocide.