AOC suggests AIPAC played role in Democrats’ poor performance in elections

Washington (Quds News Network)- New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has suggested that AIPAC, the most powerful pro-Israel lobby in the United States, was responsible for Democrats’ poor performance in this month’s elections, which saw Republican Donald Trump defeat Vice President Kamala Harris.

“If people want to talk about members of Congress being overly influenced by a special interest group pushing a wildly unpopular agenda that pushes voters away from Democrats then they should be discussing AIPAC,” she wrote on X.

The comment comes after a senior advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders pointed a finger at lobbies representing corporate or industrial interests.

If people want to talk about members of Congress being overly influenced by a special interest group pushing a wildly unpopular agenda that pushes voters away from Democrats then they should be discussing AIPAC https://t.co/2o22CMMtqw

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 17, 2024

AIPAC says it spent $53 million to support 361 pro-Israel candidates from both sides of the political aisle, while helping to defeat 24 pro-Palestine candidates. It has recently begun targeting Sanders for his attempts to block arms sales to Israel.

Ocasio-Cortez, one of the most recognized names in Congress, had previously faced criticism from the left for failing to join many of her fellow progressives in accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.

However, in March, she finally called the Israeli war in Gaza an “unfolding genocide” in a scathing speech that demanded Biden suspend military aid to Israel.

While other American progressives – including congresswomen Cori Bush and Rashida Tlaib, who is Palestinian – have used the term “genocide”, Ocasio-Cortez had refrained from doing so until her remarks in March.

In January, Ocasio-Cortez implied that she was waiting for the UN’s International Court of Justice to weigh in on the term, noting that “the fact that this word is even in play, the fact that this word is even in our discourse, I think, demonstrates the mass inhumanity that Gaza is facing”.

A group of pro-Palestine protesters confronted Ocasio-Cortez in March at a movie theater in Brooklyn, criticizing her for “refus[ing] to call it a genocide”.