Tara Suter
Mon, October 14, 2024
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) criticized the Biden administration on Monday over what she called an “unrestrained” Israeli government.
“The horrors unfolding in northern Gaza are the result of a completely unrestrained Netanyahu gov, fully armed by the Biden admin while food aid is blocked and patients are bombed in hospitals,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a post on the social platform X.
”This is a genocide of Palestinians,” she added. “The US must stop enabling it. Arms embargo now.”
Ocasio-Cortez’s post comes a day after Vice President Harris pushed for Israel to ramp up aid to Gaza in a post of her own, citing a World Food Program (WFP) report.
“The UN reports that no food has entered northern Gaza in nearly 2 weeks. Israel must urgently do more to facilitate the flow of aid to those in need,” Harris said in her post on X. “Civilians must be protected and must have access to food, water, and medicine. International humanitarian law must be respected.”
In a Saturday press release, the WFP said “escalating violence in northern Gaza is having a disastrous impact on food security for thousands of Palestinian families” and “that the main crossings into the north have been closed and no food aid has entered since 1 October.”
The WFP also said that food distribution points, kitchens and bakeries in northern Gaza have had to shut down due to airstrikes, military ground operations and evacuation orders.
“The north is basically cut off and we’re not able to operate there,” Antoine Renard, WFP country director for Palestine, said in the release. “WFP has been on the ground since the onset of the crisis. We are committed to delivering life-saving food every day despite the mounting challenges, but without safe and sustained access, it is virtually impossible to reach the people in need.”
Ocasio-Cortez’s Monday critique also came as the U.S. announced that it is sending 100 troops and a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system to Israel, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calibrates the country’s response to Iran’s latest attacks.
The New York progressive has been calling on the U.S. to stop arming Israel since well before Hamas launched its Oct. 7 attack on Israel last year. She and other “Squad” members have ramped up calls for a weapons embargo as the toll of Israel’s retaliatory war has grown.
While former President Trump and Republican groups have sought to tie Harris to far-left figures in her party, the Democratic nominee has consistently said she would not break from President Biden’s staunch support for Israel.
The Hill has reached out to the White House and Israeli prime minister’s office for comment.
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