AOC: Palestinian children in West Bank are being put in prison-like cages by ‘Israel’

Texas (QNN)- US Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has compared Israel’s detention and treatment of Palestinian children to migrants crossing the US southern border and being put in detention.
In Austin, Texas to rally support for progressive House candidates Greg Casar and Jessica Cisneros, the New York Democrat was interrupted by a pro-Palestinian protester as she was promoting the Green New Deal on Sunday.
The pro-Palestinian protester, who has been identified as Keaten Mansfield and is a contributer with Press TV, confronted her, shouting loudly that she refused to vote No the $1 billion Israel’s Iron Dome funding, “$1 billion to kill Palestinians.”
“You are a traitor to the people of America and the world,” he added.
“We are all here in solidarity to fight for human rights for Palestinians and Palestinian kids,” she said in response.
“With media, with all this stuff, Palestine is basically a banned word. It’s censored. We don’t talk about it. No one knows about it,” she said.
“Thank you for bringing it up, honestly, because we shouldn’t have to tiptoe around these things. We should be able to talk about it. And we shouldn’t allow people’s humanity to be censored.”
Ocasio-Cortez was also confronted by pro-Palestinian protesters at a separate campaign rally for Casar, the frontrunner in Texas’ 35th Congressional District, on Sunday.
Last month, Casar said in a letter to a prominent local rabbi that he supports “continued federal aid for the self-defense of Israel” and opposes the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
When a pro-Palestine protester interrupted Ocasio-Cortez’s speech in support of Casar, the congresswoman responded, “I want to be unequivocal, we are here to stand up for the rights of Palestinians and Palestinian children. One hundred percent. Don’t get it twisted. Because disinformation is not the vibe.”
A small group of demonstrators picketed the Casar event with signs reading, “AOC and Greg Casar support the genocide of Palestinians” and “from Texas to Palestine fight US imperialism,” according to photos posted by local reporters.
Obligatory shot of the sad red guard counter protest standing along red river pic.twitter.com/hp06w9yVV6
— Austin Sanders (@daustinsanders) February 13, 2022
Counter protesters are here to show support for Palestine after they claim “AOC and Greg Casar support the genocide of Palestinians.” pic.twitter.com/Q51MfI3kEb
— Gabby Ybarra (@gabbyybarra_) February 13, 2022
In a video taken at the DSA event, Ocasio-Cortez appeared to reject the charges of antisemitism that have been leveled at the House’s most outspoken critics of Israel.
“Believing in the basic human dignity and the ability for a person to not be jailed or beaten for who they are, it does not mean that you are bigoted against any other community,” she said. “And we gotta call that for what it is.”
Ocasio-Cortez added, “We need to remember that the people who are taking those tough votes are disproportionately Black, brown and women members of Congress carrying the fire.”
She compared the situation of Palestinians to undocumented immigrants detained on the U.S.’s southern border, saying, “I don’t believe that a child should be in a cage on our border and I don’t believe a child should be in a cage in the West Bank.”
The New York representative also argued that Palestinian advocacy must “reflect the community’s understanding and building of the issue.”
“If you want to make that reality happen, it’s not going to happen on the internet, y’all,” she said.
“We need to educate people on what’s going on because a lot of us didn’t grow up in households where the issue is discussed… Let’s knock [on] the doors and make it work and raise the consciousness so that we can take those votes not against the will of our community but with the will of our community.”
"With media, with all this stuff, Palestine is basically a banned word."
WATCH: US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was heckled by pro-Palestinian demonstrators at an event in Austin, Texas, while she was in the area to rally support for progressive congressional candidates. pic.twitter.com/jmel1NfcwE— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) February 16, 2022