Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took her appearance on the Yahoo! News Skullduggery podcast to criticize the re-election of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as part of the rise of authoritarianism that she believes is happening across the world.
“I think that Netanyahu is a Trump-like figure.”
Per Yahoo! News , Netanyahu was re-elected last week in the Israeli elections, marking his fifth term as prime minister. His win came just after announcing his plans to annex Jewish settlements on the West Bank, which is a region that the Palestinians hope to establish as their state. As The Inquisitr reported, these plans — and Netanyahu’s win — make this two-state solution less likely.
Ocasio-Cortez believes that the proposed annexation should affect the United States’ policy toward Israel. As of now, U.S. policy is viewed by many pro-Palestinian activists as supporting Israeli “occupation.” In the past, the White House recognized Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights and has made other decisions that benefit Netanyahu.
When Ocasio-Cortez was pressed about her feelings on decreasing economic aid or military in Israel, she said that she considers it to be a possibility.
She also acknowledged her role in the process of recognizing Palestine, claiming that other members of Congress were already debating Middle East foreign policy before her election.
“I hope to play a facilitating role in this conversation and a supportive role in this conversation. But I also know that there have been people leading on this for a long time, like Congresswoman [Betty] McCollum.”
In her most expansive comments on Palestine to date, @AOC :
-Calls Netanyahu “Trump-like”
-Says U.S. aid cuts to Israel should be discussed
-Comes out in support of McCollum’s bill to prohibit U.S. aid from being used to detain Palestinian children https://t.co/88T1Jk7d32
— Alex Kane (@alexbkane) April 15, 2019
The freshman Democrat from New York also compared the introduction of the Promoting Human Rights by Ending Israeli Military Detention of Palestinian Children Act to current U.S. policy on the southern border, where Trump claimed that detaining immigrants and breaking up their children is effective at deterring immigration.
“We need to expand what those policy conversations are, because as just a citizen of this country, I would be very concerned if Trump started really pursuing more and more and more increasingly dangerous policies and everyone just standing aside and say this is normal, this is just like before.”
As The Inquisitr reported, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggested that the U.S. might change its policy on Israel and its actions toward Palestine and claims that the White House is in the process of creating a solution that is headed by Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner. The plan will reportedly be announced after Netanyahu establishes his new government.
As of now, many criticize Trump for enabling Netanyahu for what some call a militaristic and extremist agenda.
