Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has sparked backlash online after posting a Christmas message on social media comparing the struggles of the Palestinian population in Gaza to the story of Jesus’s birth in Bethlehem.
In a message posted to Ocasio-Cortez’s Instagram story on Sunday, the New York Democrat likened the story of Jesus’s birth to the war between Israel and Hamas that has left thousands dead and even more displaced in the region. Ocasio-Cortez used the comparison to link the two historical events, arguing the “entire of Christmas and Christ himself” is to defend the “poor and powerless.”
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“In the story of Christmas, Christ was born in modern-day Palestine under the threat of a government engaged in a massacre of innocents,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote. “He was part of a targeted population being indiscriminately killed to protect an unjust leader’s power … Thousands of years later, right-wing forces are violently occupying Bethlehem as similar stories unfold for today’s Palestinians, so much so that the Christian community in Bethlehem has cancelled this year’s Christmas Eve celebrations out of both safety and respect.”
“This high Christian holiday is about honoring the precious sanctity of a family that, if the story were to unfold today, would be Jewish Palestinians,” she added, referring to the scaled-back Christmas celebrations being held in Bethlehem, which is traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus.
The Christmas missive sparked widespread backlash online, with several users lamenting Ocasio-Cortez’s criticism of Israel and failing to mention Hamas anywhere in the post.
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“AOC describes Israel as a ‘violent, right wing occupying force’ in [a] Christmas post,” Jacob Kornbluh, a senior political reporter at the Forward wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “No mention of Hamas terror, [or] the victims of [the] Oct. 7 attack.”
The message comes after weeks of calls from Ocasio-Cortez and other Democrats in the progressive “Squad” for a ceasefire in Gaza, demanding President Joe Biden and their congressional colleagues stop approving military aid and sending weapons to the wartorn country.
