AOC accuses Israel of genocide in speech, urges Congress to halt military aid

Eyewitness testimony and video footage show Hamas stealing humanitarian aid from civilians.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) characterized the plight of Gazans as an “unfolding genocide” in a congressional speech on Friday.

“If you want to know what an unfolding genocide looks like, open your eyes,” she said.

“It looks like the forced famine of 1.1 million innocents. It looks like thousands of children eating grass as their bodies consume themselves, while trucks of food are slowed and halted just miles away,” the congresswoman added.

She then urged the United States to halt all sales of arms to Israel “in order to stop and prevent further atrocities. Honoring our alliances does not mean facilitating mass killing.”

Although pro-Palestinian activists often blame Israel for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, there have been eyewitness reports as well as video evidence of Hamas stealing and redirecting shipments of humanitarian aid and selling it to Gazan civilians at high prices.

Earlier this month, Ocasio-Cortez refused to call Israel’s operation against Hamas a genocide when confronted by a pro-Hamas protester.

“It is not okay that there is a genocide happening and you are not actively against it,” one of the activists told Ocasio-Cortez.

“You’re lying,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “You’re gonna cut it and you’re gonna clip this so that it’s completely out of context.”

She added, “You’re not helping these people, and you’re not helping them, you’re not helping them.”

However, the Squad member’s most recent speech to Congress is more in keeping with her consistent criticisms of Israel, including calls to cut aid to the Jewish state.

Ocasio-Cortez and other members of the Progressive wing of the Democratic Party voted against a resolution less than a month after October 7th stating support for Israel and declaring that it had a right to defend itself against Hamas atrocities.

Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez also had harsh words for the Israel lobbying group AIPAC and said it was “one of the more racist and bigoted PACs in Congress,” an “extremist” group, and “no friend to American democracy.”

Fellow Squad member Rashida Tlaib, a Democratic Congresswoman from Michigan, has courted controversy and received an official censure from Congress for using the chant “From the River to the Sea” which calls for Israel’s destruction.

In addition, Tlaib, a close ally of AOC, has been shown to have ties with Hamas supporters, including on a closed Facebook group.