Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., confronted blowback for her social media submit that attempted to liken Jesus to the Palestinian individuals and criticize Israel however made no point out of Hamas or their hostages.
“Within the story of Christmas, Christ was born in modern-day Palestine underneath the specter of a authorities engaged in a bloodbath of innocents,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote, referencing Jews who lived within the land over 2,000 years in the past underneath Roman management. “He was a part of a focused inhabitants being indiscriminately killed to guard an unjust chief’s energy.”
“Hundreds of years later, right-wing forces are violently occupying Bethlehem as related tales unfold for as we speak’s Palestinians, a lot in order that the Christian group in Bethlehem has canceled this yr’s Christmas Eve celebrations out of each [fear for their] security and respect,” she added, though the realm is at the moment underneath the management of the Palestinian Authority.
“The complete story of Christmas and Christ himself is about standing with the poor and powerless, the marginalized and maligned, the refugees and immigrants, the outcast and misunderstood with out exception,” she concluded.
JESUS WAS BORN IN THIS VILLAGE. NOW THEY’VE CANCELED CHRISTMAS. ARE HIS FOLLOWERS NO LONGER WELCOME?
Home Oversight and Accountability Committee member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) speaks to reporters as she is joined by fellow Home Democrats within the Rayburn Home Workplace Constructing on Dec. 13, 2023 in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Pictures)
Jacob Kornbluh, a senior political reporter at The Ahead, responded with a submit on X that known as out the consultant for making “no point out of Hamas terror” or “the victims of Oct. 7 assault.”
Professional-Israel activist Andrea Karshan lamented that some individuals are not having fun with Christmas, as an alternative searching for to get “so social justice political about it,” The New York Submit reported.
NYC COUNCILWOMAN’S GLAMOROUS GOWN SENDS MESSAGE TO ‘THE SQUAD’
Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the highest Catholic clergyman within the Holy Land, arrives on the Church of the Nativity, historically believed to be the birthplace of Jesus, on Christmas Eve, within the West Financial institution metropolis of Bethlehem, Sunday, Dec. 24, 2023. Bethlehem is having a subdued Christmas after officers in Jesus’ conventional birthplace determined to forgo celebrations as a result of Israel-Hamas warfare. (AP Picture/Leo Correa)
Ocasio-Cortez in November joined with 23 Democrats to ask President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken for particulars about their plans to de-escalate violence within the area as Israel continued its invasion of the Gaza Strip.
“We reaffirm our unequivocal condemnation of the Hamas assaults on Israel that befell on October seventh, through which Hamas killed over 1,200 Israelis and international nationals, and captured over 200 hostages, who have been subsequently taken to Gaza,” the Democrats wrote.
“We additionally share dire issues with the continued Israeli response, through which the Israeli Protection Forces have killed over 11,078 Palestinians, practically half of whom have been kids,” they continued, citing numbers offered by Hamas.
BERNIE SANDERS OPPOSES ‘SQUAD,’ REJECTS PERMANENT CEASE-FIRE BETWEEN ISRAEL, HAMAS
A girl lights a candle subsequent to an set up of a scene of the nativity of Christ with a determine “symbolizing child Jesus mendacity in his manger amid rubble”, in reference to Gaza, contained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem within the occupied West Financial institution on Dec. 6, 2023, a couple of weeks earlier than Christmas amid persevering with battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (HAZEM BADER/AFP through Getty Pictures)
Bethlehem, the long-held birthplace of Jesus Christ, introduced it might not maintain its regular Christmas festivities in solidarity with Gaza and the continued violence. Commonly displayed decorations have been additionally eliminated “in honor of the martyrs,” the town council wrote in a submit on Fb.
Theologian Jonathan Morris advised Fox Information that the entire resolution amounted to “a political assertion overtaking one thing that we Christians and that Christians of Bethlehem think about to be so sacred.”
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Nevertheless, a spokesperson for the Bethlehem metropolis council advised the Telegraph in November that celebrating “isn’t applicable … whereas there’s a bloodbath taking place in Gaza and assaults within the West Financial institution.”
Fox Information Digital’s Megan Myers contributed to this report.