Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lashed out at anti-Israeli protesters at a Brooklyn movie theater who demanded that she call Israel's military campaign in Gaza as a "genocide." Video footage of the confrontation shows Ocasio-Cortez claiming that she had already made such a statement.
Ocasio-Cortez, who was with her fiancé Riley Roberts, lost her cool and used harsh language, including an expletive, as she confronted a couple of protesters at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema around 5 p.m. on Monday. The protesters voiced their grievances that the 34-year-old had not publicly described Israel's bombing of the Palestinian territory as a "genocide" as they confronted her inside the downtown Brooklyn theater, according to the footage.
AOC Loses Her Cool
"You refuse to call it a genocide, I need you to understand that this is not okay," one of the protesters can be heard saying in the video. "It's not okay that there's a genocide happening and you're not actively against it," the protester continues.
With frustration visible on her face, Ocasio-Cortez, a supporter of far-left causes and protests, responded by yelling, "You're lying!"
Ocasio-Cortez reacted with anger, delivering a passionate response to the protesters. "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. And you're not helping these people. You're not helping them," she says.
"Why won't you say it in front of everybody, why us?" one protester replies.
The protesters continue: "If you can't say it, just say it. Literally. We're just talking to you like normal people. Just say it's a genocide. Just say it. Over 30,000 people are dead AOC, you can't just say it for once? Just say the word, that's it. That's all we want you to say."
The protesters continued trailing the Democrat, who appeared visibly aggravated as she moved toward the exit.
Ocasio-Cortez confronted the protesters once again in the area between sets of escalators to defend herself before ultimately walking away.
The video then cuts to everyone leaving the venue, with Roberts turning around to address and confront the agitators.
"Stop," he said as Ocasio-Cortez walked ahead of him. "OK, stop."
Blast and Furious
The lawmaker went on a tirade when questioned about whether she was concerned that the video clip would go viral. "You're gonna cut it ... and you're gonna clip this so that it's completely out of context," Ocasio-Cortez fumed.
The congresswoman has not publicly called Israel's retaliatory bombardment in Gaza as a genocide, but on Monday, she suggested the opposite.
The video ended as the protesters persisted in berating Ocasio-Cortez while she walked ahead with Roberts.
In a late January "Meet the Press" interview, Ocasio-Cortez did not directly label Israel's military action as a genocide as she avoided directly addressing whether using the term was going overboard.
"Some of your colleagues have accused the president of supporting genocide, including Rashida Tlaib. Do you agree with that word, genocide, that the president's been supporting a genocide, or does that go too far?" host Kristen Welker asked her during the interview.
In response, Ocasio-Cortez mentioned that young people across the country were "appalled at the violence and the indiscriminate loss of life." She referred to a recent decision by the United Nations' International Court of Justice, stating that Israel has a responsibility to prevent genocide.
"They are still determining whether it's a genocide. Do you think that term is responsible given it's still under investigation?" Welker continued to probe.
"I believe that they are. They're still determining it. But in the interim ruling, the fact that they said there's a responsibility to prevent it, the fact that this word is even in play, the fact that this word is even in our discourse, I think, demonstrates the mass inhumanity that Gazans are facing," Ocasio-Cortez responded.
After Monday's confrontation, an old tweet resurfaced online in which Ocasio-Cortez said that protesting was meant to make people "uncomfortable." Some social media users found this past message ironic in light of the recent events.
"The whole point of protesting is to make [people] uncomfortable," she tweeted in December 2020. "Activists take that discomfort w/ the status quo & advocate for concrete policy changes. Popular support often starts small & grows. To folks who complain protest demands make others uncomfortable... that's the point."
The liberal firebrand has often criticized Israel and demanded a cease-fire in Gaza following the surprise attack by Hamas terrorists that claimed 1,200 Israeli lives.
