Democratic Socialists Abandon AOC
Hosting a panel on antisemitism proves to be a bridge too far.
(WSJ)
DSA Ditches AOC for Not Being Anti-Zionist Enough (Intelligencer)
In a statement published late on Wednesday, the DSA, the nation’s largest socialist political organization, wrote that it was revoking the endorsement it had issued shortly before the primary this year, which she won easily. ...The latest endorsement came with conditions, including total opposition to U.S. funding or Israel and opposition to “all criminalization of Anti-Zionism.” But in a June livestream hosted by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, AOC stated that some recent criticisms of Israel could be interpreted as antisemitic. The DSA wrote in a statement that her comments were a “deep betrayal to all those who’ve risked their welfare to fight Israeli apartheid and genocide” and that antisemitism and anti-Zionism were “conflated” at the event. But Ocasio-Cortez wasn’t just among the best-known allies of the DSA; she was also one of the staunchest supporters of Palestine in Congress, describing the Israeli attacks on Gaza as a “genocide” earlier this year.
The DSA has faced some turmoil since the war in Gaza began. On October 11, Representative Shri Thanedar renounced his membership from the group after it hosted a rally in New York at which a protester held up a swastika on his phone.
I renounced my membership by cutting up my card and tossing it in the trash can as soon as I read about that Oct. 11 rally.
Ocasio-Cortez Loses the Democratic Socialists’ Endorsement Over Israel
The New York congresswoman was blamed for not being supportive enough of the Palestinian cause and efforts to end the war in Gaza. (NYT)
