NYC Primary winner defends 'massacre' tweet by calling situation 'tragic'
In the interview, which aired on the Qatari-owned network's social media channel AJ+, she said the tweet was "not just about nationality."
By AVRAHAM GOLDUpdated: JULY 4, 2018 21:59Progressive challenger Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez embraces New York gubenatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon at her victory party in the Bronx after upsetting incumbent Democratic Representative Joseph Crowly on June 26, 2018(photo credit: SCOTT HEINS/GETTY IMAGES/AFP)
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, winner of a surprise upset in the primary for New York's 14th Congressional District, asserted in an interview with Al Jazeera that her tweet characterizing the IDF's response to Gaza protests as a "massacre" was "not about nationality" but just about a "tragic" event.In the interview, which aired on the Qatari-owned network's social media channel AJ+, she said the tweet was "not just about nationality."It's about people who are unarmed who are killed. If 60 people were shot and killed in Ferguson, if 60 people were shot and killed in Puerto Rico, if 60 people were shot and killed in the South Bronx. It's tragic. It's tragic," she said, referring to a racial unrest outside of St. Louis, Missouri, a hurricane in the Caribbean and her place of birth, respectively.She drew attention from foreign policy circles upon her upset victory for a single tweet on Israel she published during her campaign, in which she characterized the killing of over 60 Palestinians on the Gazan border last month as a "massacre" and demanded congressional attention.The interview overlaid videos of protesters near the Gaza border fence with tear gas canisters raining down, Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances and injured Gazans.Palestinians have rioted near the Gaza border fence since late March, and Hamas has multiple times admitted its members were among the rioters.
