A cadre of anti-Israel protesters harassed Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) outside of a movie theater on Monday night, demanding she call the war in Gaza a “genocide.”
The video showed several protesters following Ocasio-Cortez and her fiancé as they exited the Alamo Drafthouse, repeatedly sticking a camera in their faces.
#NYC “You refuse to call it a genocide” – handful of protesters chase after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at a Brooklyn movie theater, “You gonna cut it and take it out of context, I already said that it was” – AOC responded to protesters claims on refusing word “Genocide” , “This is… pic.twitter.com/mipmA5EHu9
— FreedomNews.Tv FNTV (@FreedomNTV) March 5, 2024
“You refuse to call it a genocide,” one of the protesters can be heard saying.
“I need you to understand that this is not okay,” the congresswoman said in response.
“It’s not okay that there’s a genocide happening and you’re not actively against it,” the protester shot back.
“You’re lying!” Ocasio-Cortez retorted.
The protesters then proceeded to follow her down the escalator, demanding she say the word “genocide.”
“If you can’t say it, just say it. Literally. We’re just talking to you like normal people. Just say it’s a genocide. Just say it. Over 30,000 people are dead AOC, you can’t just say it for once?” another protester shouted.
The protester had been citing “figures from the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza,” as noted by Fox News.
“Just say the word, that’s it. That’s all we want you to say,” the protester asserted.
At one point, the congresswoman’s fiancé, Riley Roberts, confronted them outside the building and pleaded with them to stop as they walked down the sidewalk. When a protester accused Ocasio-Cortez of being concerned about her comments going viral, she responded that her comments would be taken “completely out of context.”
“I already said that it was. And y’all are just gonna pretend that it wasn’t. Over and over again. It’s fucked up man. And you’re not helping these people. You’re not helping them,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
Ocasio-Cortez has previously criticized Israel’s response to the October 7 massacre and has even called for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
“We are seeing a level of depravity in Gaza that is becoming morally untenable to support,” she said in February.
