Ocasio Cortez Retreats. DSA Must Act.

Here's Ocasio Cortez reflecting the pressure she is now coming under from the Democratic Party establishment and also the many Zionist Jews (and Christians) she will have to answer to. She chose to apologize for using the term "occupation" with regard to the Zionist occupation of Palestinian lands and for the term "massacre" in a tweet in reference to Israel's massacre of children back in May.

Using the excuse that she said those things when she was an "activist" and now she is a politician is even worse. She is apologizing to the US bourgeois, the Zionist lobby, the Democratic Party hacks and part of that apology is admitting that in running for office she did what all the establishment politicians do, she lied. She said what people wanted to hear not what she sincerely believed and what she would fight for in order to get the votes and win the position.

This is one of the reasons why Trump gets an echo, why some people support him. She confirms what Trump says, they're all liars, they're all  dishonest when it comes to the average voter. He may be in the same boat but he comes right out there and says it. It is not possible to accept Ms Cortez' implication that she's not very knowledgeable about the Middle East.  The whole Israel/Palestine issue is regularly discussed fodder especially in NYC. It's one of the world's major crisis areas. She ran for Congress and is not familiar with the issue? She was when she wanted people's votes apparently.

I know next to nothing about her base or if there is a base that can pull her back but it's unlikely. Facts For Working People explained in a previous post how while we do not support the Democratic Party or see it as vehicle for change, her election was positive because it would increase the tension between the Democratic Party hacks, the Pelosi, Schumer wing and the increasingly vocal leftish wing, increasing the divisions in that party. It would add impetus to the developing division in the party which would be helpful in ending the two capitalist party monopoly, as it would bring closer the splitting to act party at a time when the republican party is also heading for a split. Cortez winning against Crowley sent shock waves through the establishment and not wanting to lost that corporate money, the likes of Pelsoi and co rushed to confirm that the party is not "socialist". Their fears have probably subsided somewhat with Cortez' comments. What appears to be a rapid capitulation to the establishment is also likely to increase the divisions in the party making the possibility of a split even more likely.

Ocasio Cortez and DSA

Note: I am adding this an hour or two since this was posted. On thinking more about it I understand that Ms Cortez in in the Democratic Socialists Of America. (DSA). If she is, DSA should demand that she retract her capitulation to the Schumer/Pelosi right wing and stand by her original comments about the Zionist "massacre" of children and also her term "occupation" which is what the Israeli occupation is. She used these terms knowingly when she wanted to make sure she addressed the mood and feelings of those that voted for her and understood the situation quite clearly then. She got elected and then, faced with the reality of the pressure from the Democratic Party hacks, the Zionist lobby and Congress, backtracked instead of using this opportunity to wage an open war against the establishment. DSA should give her the opportunity to reverse course or expel her from membership. RM

From MondoWeiss

Ocasio-Cortez hedges criticisms of Israel– ‘I may not use the right words’

US Politics

Philip Weiss on July 15, 2018 

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Rising Democratic star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the congressperson-to-be for a district in the Bronx and Queens, famously tweeted “This is a massacre,” after Israel’s slaughter of 60 Gazans on May 14, and said Democrats must not be silent anymore about Israeli human rights violations, and opposed the embassy move. Since her surprise victory over a Democratic leader in the primary last month, she’s gotten a lot of pushback from the establishment.

More came on Friday night on PBS Firing Line, and Ocasio-Cortez seemed to walk back her comments. She wrote that tweet as an “activist,” she said — she’s not an activist anymore, now she’s about to be a congressperson representing a broad district (with many Zionist Jews in it), and she promised to “learn and evolve.” Ocasio-Cortez vowed that she supports the two-state solution, she seemed flustered when asked why she used the term “occupation,” and she apologized for herself, saying that she’s not an expert on Middle East issues. “I may not use the right words.”

Here’s the three-minute exchange. Margaret Hoover (a veteran of the Bush White House) says that Ocasio-Cortez’s “massacre” tweet became controversial, then asks:

What is your position on Israel?

AOC: Well, I believe absolutely in Israel’s right to exist. I am a proponent of the two state solution. And for me this is not a referendum I think on the state of Israel. For me, the lens through which I saw this incident, as an activist, as an organizer: If 60 people were killed in Ferguson, Missouri, if 60 people were killed in the South Bronx– unarmed– 60 people were killed in Puerto Rico, I just look at that incident more through– through just, as an incident and to me it would just be completely unacceptable if that happened on our shores. But–

Of course the dynamic there in terms of geo politics and the Middle East is very different from people expressing their First Amendment right to protest. 

AOC: Well, yes, but I also think that what people are starting to see in the occupation of Palestine is just an increasing crisis of humanitarian conditions and that to me is just where I tend to come from on this issue.

You use the term the occupation of Palestine, what did you mean by that?

AOC: Oh– I think, what I meant is that the settlements that are increasing in some of these areas and places where Palestinians are experiencing difficulty in access to housing and homes.

Do you think you can expand on that? 

AOC: Yeah I think — I am not the expert on geo-politics on this issue. You know, for me, I’m a firm believer in finding a two-state solution in this issue [Hoover nods approvingly]. And I’m happy to sit down with leaders on both of these… for me, I just look at things through a human rights lens, and I may not use the right words– I know this is a very intense issue.

That’s very honest and you’re gong to — and when you get to Washington and you’re an elected member of Congress you’ll have an opportunity to talk to people on all sides and visit Israel and visit the West Bank. 

AOC: Absolutely. And especially with the district that I represent, I come from the South Bronx, I come from a Puerto Rican background. And Middle Eastern politics is not exactly at my kitchen table every night. But I also recognize that this is an intensely-important issue for people in my district, for Americans across the country. And I think at least what is important to communicate is that I am willing to listen. And that I’m willing to learn and evolve on this issue as I think many Americans are.

Ocasio-Cortez is just 28 and it shows. Give her a couple years and I am sure she will show more firmness and strength on these answers. Oh, and wait till she visits “Israel and… the West Bank.”
BTW, Hoover worked in the Bush administration but is also a supporter of some liberal causes.

Thanks to Ofer Neiman.