US Congress votes in support of Israel "from fear" of AIPAC rather than from "conscience," US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also known as AOC, claimed on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday.
"An unspoken secret in Congress is that much of the reflexive, blind, unconditional vote support for nearly any Israeli gov action isn’t from actual agreement," Ocasio-Cortez wrote. "It’s from fear. Reps are terrified of this (referring to a graph of NY CD-16 top spending advertisers). Of AIPAC. So they don’t vote their conscience. They vote their fear."
An unspoken secret in Congress is that much of the reflexive, blind, unconditional vote support for nearly any Israeli gov action isn’t from actual agreement.It’s from fear.Reps are terrified of this ⬇️. Of AIPAC. So they don’t vote their conscience. They vote their fear. https://t.co/0MmZnUtBTH
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 19, 2024
Cortez has previously expressed her disapproval of both the US and Israel over the Israel-Hamas war.
In March, she accused Israel of committing genocide and forcing famine on over one million Gazans. She further argued that Israel was blocking Palestinian residents of Gaza from receiving humanitarian aid.
Cortez also accused the US government of being complicit in Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip, especially concerning the transfer of US weapons to Israel.
Moreover, when faced backlash for her comments accusing Israel of genocide, the congresswoman maintained her stance, citing death tolls published by the Gaza health ministry, which is controlled by the Hamas terrorist organization.
Continued accusations of genocide
"If you want to know what an unfolding genocide is, open your eyes,” she told CNN in March, adding that Israel "crossed the threshold of intent" and is intentionally creating a famine in Gaza by blocking the entrance of humanitarian aid to the Strip, despite Israeli military officials stating that aid was being allowed into the strip and that the problem is mostly distribution.
Since Hamas’s October 7 attacks and the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, Ocasio-Cortez has been criticized for her rhetoric and actions surrounding the war, such as failing to condemn the sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas and refusing to attend Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s speech to Congress.