AMERICA WITNESSING A “GENERATIONAL CHANGE” IN POLITICAL VIEWPOINT ON ISRAEL
April 20, 2024Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) was interviewed by Zeteo founder, Mehdi Hasan, and one of the key topics was the shifting tide of Israeli support in the US.
“The mere notion or suggestion of CONDITIONING U.S. MILITARY AID to Israel was unthinkable seven months ago… this is a generational change,” AOC said.
She goes on to point out that conditioning military aid to Israel is in line with US policy. Unconditional support is the exception rather than the norm.
“It is the creation of this exemption that has contributed to destabilising the region.”
A great thankyou to @mehdihasan and his new channel @zeteonews for these intriguing pieces and investigations. We need more of this!
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English Script:
Mehdi Hasan: And you talked about enabling. Our enabling constitutes mainly arms sales. It’s a big part of our enabling. Number one: Did you ever imagine that Nancy Pelosi would come out for conditions on arms sales, of all people? And number two: post this weekend, with the Iranian attack on Israel. What are you saying to colleagues who say, well, of course, we have to arm Israel now? What are you saying to the to the Jared Moskowitzes and the Josh Gottheimers.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Well, on your first note, it I do think it’s important for people to take a pause and realize how much of a dramatic sea change there has been. The mere notion or suggestion of conditioning U.S. military aid to Israel was unthinkable seven months ago. Politically unthinkable. Never in the history of the United States have we had a conversation like this. And the fact that, as you mentioned, that even Nancy Pelosi is now signing onto letters about this. We have to understand the…I mean, this is a generational change.
Secondly, on your – as to your second point, what we say to folks who resist this is that if we want safety in this region, we have to condition U.S. military aid, which we do to every country in the world by the way.
It’s actually stopping the exemptions instead of creating one that we’re talking about. And it’s the creation of this exemption that has contributed, in my view, to destabilizing the region. Because when we say you can do anything you want with this, and as we’ve seen when there are leaders in the region who will do and will break international law and norms, we are having a hand in that. And the good news about it is that I do believe, I hope, that we are getting to a point where this is no longer a fringe position.
Mehdi Hasan: Do you worry that Israel, as a critic of Israel, do you worry that Israel is trying to start a war in the Middle East to distract from Gaza? Trying to start a war with Iran. There was the attack on the consulate in Syria, which the Iranians claimed they were retaliating for. How worried are you about an Israel Iran war that America gets dragged into? That Biden gets dragged into?
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: I can’t speak to the intent. I don’t know if it is volatile decision making. I don’t – it is difficult to generally get into the mind of not just one individual, but a cabinet, a government that has its own internal incentives as well that they are responding to within the politics of Israel as well. But what I do know is that this is not safe. And what I do know is that whether intentionally or unintentionally, this is an escalatory environment. And our responsibility, in my belief, is to contribute to the de-escalation of what is a very volatile situation. And I believe the president made some actions this weekend, and it actually showed and demonstrated the value of conditions, saying we will not support this. And what it led to was a de-escalation.
