Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lost her cool with pro-Palestinian protesters on Monday, claiming their tactics were “f—-ed up”.
The Democrat congresswoman, a critic of Israel, was visiting a cinema in New York with Riley Roberts, her fiance, when she was confronted by two activists.
Video footage of the confrontation shows the protesters following Ms Ocasio-Cortez, 34, and complaining she had not publicly called Israel’s invasion of Gaza a “genocide”.
“I need you to understand that this is not OK,” she told one male protester.
“It’s not OK that there’s a genocide happening and you’re not actively against it,” he replied.
“You’re lying,” said Ms Ocasio-Cortez.
The politician grew increasingly frustrated as the protesters continued to follow and film her night out.
“You’re gonna cut it and you’re gonna clip this so that it’s completely out of context,” she said.
The congresswoman, who has been a strong advocate of an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, insisted she had already denounced Israel’s actions as genocide and therefore the protesters’ anger was misplaced.
“I already said that it was and y’all are just gonna pretend that it wasn’t over and over again – it’s f—ed up, man,” she said. “And you’re not helping these people, and you’re not helping them, you’re not helping them.”
The video ended as the protesters continued to berate Ms Ocasio-Cortez as she walked with Mr Roberts.
Ms Ocasio-Cortez is considered one of the most outspoken supporters of a Gaza ceasefire in Congress and has repeatedly criticised Israel over its military response to the Hamas attacks on Oct 7.
She also condemned Hamas in the “strongest possible terms” shortly after the attacks, in which 1,200 Israelis were killed.
Following her difficult encounter with activists who should, in theory, be on her side on the Israel-Gaza argument, a tweet from December 2020 resurfaced online, in which she wrote: “The whole point of protesting is to make [people] uncomfortable.
“Activists take that discomfort with the status quo & advocate for concrete policy changes. Popular support often starts small and grows. To folks who complain protest demands make others uncomfortable… that’s the point.”
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