AOC reconsidering participation in Yitzhak Rabin memorial event after tweet from anti-Israel journalist.
New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is reconsidering her participation in an upcoming memorial event for the assassinated late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the freshman Democrat said on Friday.
After being questioned on Twitter by an anti-Israel journalist, Alex Kane, about her planned attendance at the Americans for Peace Now ceremony, which will mark the 25th anniversary of the murder of Rabin by a far-right Jewish zealot angered by his efforts to make peace with the Palestinians, Ocasio-Cortez said, “Hey there – this event and my involvement was presented to my team differently from how it’s now being promoted. Thanks for pointing it out. Taking a look into this now.”
In his tweet, Kane highlighted Rabin’s role as Israel’s defense minister during the First Intifada in the late 1980s, claiming Palestinians remembered him “as someone who reportedly ordered the breaking of Palestinian bones.”
Hey there – this event and my involvement was presented to my team differently from how it’s now being promoted.
Thanks for pointing it out. Taking a look into this now.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) September 25, 2020
Replying to Ocasio-Cortez, former Israeli Labor MK Stav Shaffir tweeted, “When we stand for peace, there will be those who will tell us it’s impossible, even threaten us. Rabin stood strong & signed the first agreement with the Palestinians as he believed peace was the only hope. He was assassinated for it. I hope you’ll have the moral courage to attend.”
US Jewish journalist Yair Rosenberg commented, “If @AOC can’t even do an event with *Peace Now* remembering Yitzhak Rabin, the general turned peacemaker killed by a far-right extremist for trying to make peace with the Palestinians, it suggests caring more about Twitter than good real world outcomes. Hope that’s not the case.”
In a tweet on Thursday announcing the Rabin event, Americans for Peace Now said Ocasio-Cortez would “reflect on fulfilling the courageous Israeli leader’s mission for peace and justice today in the US and Israel.”