Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has withdrawn from an event memorializing Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin, a Nobel Peace laureate who led Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts before being assassinated by an Israeli extremist in 1995.
The event is being organized by Americans for Peace Now, a left-wing group. However, Ocasio-Cortez withdrew after being told Palestinians disliked him for suppressing the first intifada. (Palestinians were led by terrorist Yasser Arafat at the time.)
Hey there – this event and my involvement was presented to my team differently from how it’s now being promoted.
Thanks for pointing it out. Taking a look into this now.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) September 25, 2020
Ron Kampeas of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported:
“We are sorry to hear that Rep. Ocasio-Cortez will no longer be speaking at our Oct. 20th Yitzhak Rabin memorial,” Hadar Susskind, Americans for Peace Now’s president, said Saturday in an email to JTA. “Her participation would have added to the event.” Ocasio-Cortez’s spokeswoman had confirmed her withdrawal on Friday, but there were still questions about whether it would be reversed.
…
A person associated with the presidential campaign of Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, told JTA that should Ocasio-Cortez withdraw, it would be “problematic.” “She could have rejected the invitation for any number of reasons,” the Biden campaign associate said. “But if she agrees and then pulls out, she’s creating problems for her own party.”
…
A number of pro-Palestinian groups and figures had lacerated Ocasio-Cortez for agreeing to attend, describing Rabin, who was an officer in the 1948 Independence War, as a war criminal for his order to expel Arabs from their hometowns in that war, and for calling for brutal measures to repress the First Intifada, or violent Palestinian uprising, when he was defense minister from 1987-1990.
Ocasio-Cortez reportedly withdrew because she was told the event would be a discussion, not a memorial.
Some Jewish Democrats were dismayed at her decision:
On October 20, @peacenowUS will host an event marking 25 years since the murder of Yitzhak Rabin (z”l). As an admirer of Rabin's and a long-time Peace Now supporter, I am hurt and troubled by @aoc decision to withdraw her participation and urge her to reconsider. 1/
— Jeremy Ben-Ami (@JeremyBenAmi) September 26, 2020
Very disappointing decision (now confirmed) by @AOC not to attend this event. A mistake to give in to pressure, a missed opportunity to speak constructively to both sides of this conflict, honoring a peacemaker while acknowledging complexity. Hope she will try again & do better. https://t.co/m4suDsGgTC
— Dan Shapiro (@DanielBShapiro) September 26, 2020
Ocasio-Cortez has made several anti-Israel statements in her short political career. When asked about her opposition to the “occupation of Palestine,” she declined to expand on what she meant, saying that she was not an “expert” on the issue.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His newest e-book is The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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