Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was distraught Saturday night on MSNBC that “squad” members Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar were prohibited from visiting Israel.
MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan tried to claim that somehow Americans are dehumanizing the more than a dozen members of Congress who are calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, with Hasan noting that most of the members are non-white.
“How much of the Congressional indifference to Palestinian life in Gaza…is driven by the fact that they’re Arabs, or they’re mostly all Muslims, or they don’t look like us, do you think?” Hasan asked.
Ocasio-Cortez was hesitant to answer at first but said Congress has ignored Palestinians for a while before she shifted gear.
Rep. @AOC: “I found it shocking when … when PM Netanyahu banned two U.S. sitting members of Congress from coming to Israel, Reps. Rashida Tlaib & Ilhan Omar … my own colleagues did not seem to say or do much of anything. That should be an affront to our entire gov’t & country” pic.twitter.com/y8FGfbhGCP
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) October 23, 2023
“I found it shocking, I found it SHOCKING, when in 2019 or 2020, in our first term, when Prime Minister Netanyahu banned two United States sitting members of Congress form coming to Israel…banned two members of the United States Congress from entering the country that my own colleagues did not seem to say or do much of anything. That should be an affront to our entire government and country,” Ocasio-Cortez said. (RELATED: POLL: Plurality Of Israeli Jews Support Israel’s Decision To Ban Omar, Tlaib)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prohibited Tlaib and Omar from visiting the country back in 2019 after both members made anti-Semitic remarks. Democratic members of the House brought a resolution to condemn Omar’s remarks on the floor after Jewish lawmakers and the Anti-Defamation League raised concerns.