Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday of enacting “unjust and inhumane policies.”
“The Netanyahu administration has been pursuing a lot of extraordinarily concerning policies,” she told reporters. “To conflate an individual leader or ego with being against the entire country I think is a hallmark behavior of folks like our president.”
“Just like we have the ability to criticize our president without being anti-American, I believe we can criticize the policies and decisions that the administration over there is pursuing without being against a country overall,” continued the freshman congresswoman. “In fact, I think that what we all are united for is for a peaceful future that is just and economically just, socially just and culturally just that provides for the civil rights and human rights of all people.”
“They can no longer use this allegation of anti-Semitism to defend their unjust and inhumane policies that hurt all people,” she added. “And frankly, I think it damages the security of all people—Israeli, Palestinian alike. You can’t use this cudgel of anti-Semitism to scare people away from pointing that out.”