Alas, Congress just wasn’t anti-Semitic enough for Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Thursday.
Not by a long shot, in fact.
According to Defense News, only nine representatives voted against a $1 billion spending bill that would restock Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system after the Jewish state used it to fend off rocket attacks by Hamas in May.
In addition, two representatives voted “present” — including AOC, who apparently changed her vote at the last minute.
After some progressives forced Dems to take Israel Iron Dome funding out of CR, House overwhelmingly approves funding 420-9
No votes:
Dems:
Omar
Carson
Tlaib
Newman
Pressley
Grijalva
Garcia (IL)
BushRepublicans:
MassieGA Dem Reps Johnson and Ocasio-Cortez voted “present”
— Tyler Olson (@TylerOlson1791) September 23, 2021
And then she started crying.
While the Democrats had originally wanted to include the $1 billion in a continuing resolution that would raise the debt ceiling, that would have to pass on a party-line vote; Republicans have been vehemently opposed to raising the debt limit after a flurry of spending bills from the Democrats.
However, the far left of the party — including AOC, natch — scuttled that plan when it demanded the Iron Dome funding be taken out.
As Defense News pointed out, the Iron Dome is a proven defense and deterrent against indiscriminate rocket attacks. The progressives objected to funding it on the grounds that more emphasis should be placed on making Palestinians safe.
When the spending was taken out of the continuing resolution and voted on separately, the far-left contingent continued to press for its defeat.
The debate led to one of the most openly anti-Semitic statements on the floor of the House since the World War II days, when folks like Mississippi Democratic Rep. John Rankin could go off on “international Jews” for being “warmongers.”
Sadly, this wasn’t as surprising as the fact the anti-Semitic statement didn’t come from Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, the usual fount of this bilge. Instead, fellow “squad” member Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, a lower-key anti-Semite, managed to take some of the headlines by calling Israel a “violent apartheid” state:
.@RepRashida opposing Iron Dome funding for Israel:
“I will not support an effort to enable and support war crimes, human rights abuses, and violence…Palestinians are living under a violent apartheid system…war crimes …Palestinian need for security from Israeli attacks…” pic.twitter.com/C0WG0CRXKG
— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) September 23, 2021
This only got some of the headlines, however, because Ocasio-Cortez appeared to cry after she changed her vote from “no” to “present.”
AOC seems distraught. She is in the middle of the house floor wiping away tears, crying into her colleagues shoulders. https://t.co/ami3Cj44EP
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) September 23, 2021
Ocasio-Cortez, who changed her vote from no to present on Iron Dome at the last minute appears visibly upset. Appears to be crying on the House floor, in a hug with Rep. Jayapal
— Marc Rod (@marcrod97) September 23, 2021
Video appeared to show her in tears after the vote:
AOC appears to be crying on the House floor after she changed her vote from “no” to present, during voting on funding to replenish Israel’s Iron Dome Defense Systems. pic.twitter.com/DbcRemtdqY
— Moshe Schwartz (@YWNReporter) September 23, 2021
It was unclear what AOC was crying about, and until she does an Instagram Live stream about how much pain she went through when she changed her vote from “no” to “present” at the last minute, we’ll have no idea.
(Incidentally, there’s no material difference between a “no” vote and a “present” vote in this situation. A “present” vote doesn’t count toward or against the passage of a measure, but it does count toward a quorum. Neither was in question, so a “present” was as good as a “no” here.)
Perhaps the scales had finally fallen from Ocasio-Cortez’s eyes and she realized being in a “squad” with Omar and Tlaib — both known for frequent anti-Semitic vociferations — wasn’t a hot idea for her long-term career prospects.
Perhaps she was overcome with the pain of finding out the rest of Congress doesn’t loathe Israel as much as she does and wasn’t willing to let its citizens fall prey to terrorist attacks from Hamas and Hezbollah.
When are we going to see photos of AOC crying outside of an intact Israeli kindergarten?
— Noam “MF Blum” (@neontaster) September 23, 2021
Or perhaps, as Tablet associate editor Noam Blum was alluding to, AOC is fond of crying for the camera when things don’t go her way. Plenty of Twitterites noted the similarities between Thursday’s vote and her lachrymose display outside a detention center for illegal immigrants in 2018:
New stunt, same as the old stunt. pic.twitter.com/EPKnxnIvdK
— Ali Pine (@AliPine2) September 23, 2021
Remember when she played peekaboo with a parking lot? pic.twitter.com/viNRU9Fpq2
— Hollaria Briden (@HollyBriden) September 23, 2021
Remember, you shouldn’t call it a “parking lot” — fact-checkers don’t like that. Instead, it was through a chain-link fence alongside a road leading to the detention center. Totally a different thing.
So, why did the congresswoman do it? And why was she crying? One Twitterer speculated AOC “most likely changed her vote because there is a good chance her new district (due to redistricting) will include Riverdale which has a large pro-Israel/Jewish population.”
She most likely changed her vote because there is a good chance her new district(due to redistricting) will include Riverdale which has a large pro-Israel/Jewish population
— Eytan Saenger (@EytanSaenger) September 23, 2021
The New York Post’s Karol Markowicz noted voters wouldn’t see this much differently from a “no” vote.
But are the Jews really going to say “well, she didn’t vote no. She voted ‘present’ and cried about it which is totally different.”
— Karol Markowicz (@karol) September 23, 2021
My favorite theory goes to the Washington Examiner’s Seth Mandel, however:
got the dry-cleaning bill from Met
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) September 23, 2021
Those “Tax the Rich” dresses, it’s a pain to get the stench of hypocrisy out of them.
Whatever the case, Ocasio-Cortez forced the Democrats to separate the Iron Dome funding from the wider continuing resolution package and then got soundly defeated in a debate where one of her closest allies grabbed headlines with her odiously anti-Semitic rhetoric.
There was quite a bit to cry over — although knowing AOC, I doubt she was crying over the right things.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
