All of a sudden, the ringleader of the “Squad” is being out-flanked by the far left.
That’s the message being sent by the Democratic Socialists of America, who on Wednesday rescinded their endorsement of progressive icon Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY) after condemning her for hosting several progressive Israel supporters who encouraged the left to tamp down on its antisemitic rhetoric. A panel hosted last month included Jewish Council for Public Affairs CEO Amy Spitalnick and Stacy Burdett, a former Anti-Defamation League and U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum official. Their inclusion was enough for the DSA to drop AOC after endorsing her previous reelection bids.
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In a statement to Jewish Insider, the DSA’s National Political Committee said the Bronx Democrat failed to meet endorsement criteria it set out during a June 23rd meeting, including demands that Ocasio Cortez publicly oppose all support for Israel, including for Iron Dome; oppose “all criminalization of anti-Zionism,” especially a definition of antisemitism pushed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance; and publicly support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement “to end Israeli settler-colonialism.” The DSA added it had “not seen evidence of AOC meeting these conditions.”
In addition, the group said, many members are “demanding that AOC demonstrate a higher level of commitment to Palestinian liberation, self-determination, and the immediate end to the heinous genocide in Gaza committed by Israel.”
AOC, now in her third term, has walked a fine line between calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war and urging her supporters to refrain from veering their discourse into open hostility toward Jewish people and organizations. The New York lawmaker said during her forum that yes, antisemitism on the left is present, but that bad actors on the right are also making “false accusations of antisemitism” to sow further division. That statement didn’t sit well with the Jewish community online, the Insider added.
“This sponsorship [of the webinar] is a deep betrayal to all those who’ve risked their welfare to fight Israeli apartheid and genocide through political and direct action in recent months, and in decades past,” the DSA statement declared.
The congresswoman declined to comment on the rescinded endorsement, but Spitalnick clapped back for her, telling the outlet, “The fact that our — nuanced, complex, and frank — conversation on antisemitism is somehow beyond the pale for DSA should tell you everything you need to know.”
Last month, fellow Squad member Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) lost his Democratic primary to a moderate Westchester Democrat who drew deep support from the district’s Jewish community, including members who anonymously trashed Rep. Bowman for asking them for staged photos so he could prove he has “Jewish friends” ahead of the election. Another member, Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), is on track to lose her primary according to the latest polling.
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