Talk about a mask-off moment.
On Wednesday, the Democratic Socialists of America yanked their endorsement of progressive darling Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, bestowed just a week prior, for the sin of . . . acknowledging the reality of antisemitism within the pro-Palestine movement.
The DSA’s national apparatus had tentatively given the endorsement June 23, on the condition that AOC completely toe the group’s line on Israel, which apparently means staying dead silent on the issue of rampant leftist Jew-hate.
The group listed several supposed indiscretions in their indictment of AOC, including her vote affirming the Jewish state’s right to exist last year and a statement in April that supported “strengthening the Iron Dome and other defense systems.”
But those stances were on the record before the DSA endorsed.
It seems the final straw, the position that the Democratic Socialists just couldn’t tolerate, was learning that AOC had hosted a June 10 roundtable on antisemitism with the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, during which (the DSA claims) she “conflated anti-Zionism with antisemitism and condemned boycotting Zionist institutions.”
Much as we wish she was “guilty” on both charges, she’s not: She simply recognized a bit of reality.
As assaults on Jews spike to record rates and pro-Palestine goons chant “long live the Intifada” at survivors of the Oct. 7 attack, anyone with two brain cells to rub together could tell you that “anti-Zionism” is often ill-concealed Jew hate.
Even AOC, who’s embraced most progressive messaging on Israel otherwise (calling the war a “genocide”; opposing the supply of further weapons to Israel), can see it.
For what it’s worth, the local DSA still finds her . . . kosher.
But recognizing the humanity of Jews seems a bridge too far for the national DSA.
Really, they might as well clear up all the confusion, and just call themselves the National Socialists of America.