Thread by @OmarBaddar

THREAD: You may have seen the claim that #AOC has somehow sold out her progressive principles on Palestine in order to pander to the Israel lobby. This is a quick thread explaining why this conclusion is wrong and baseless (1/14)

This ^ claim is made by comparing a bold 2018 tweet correctly accusing Israel of committing a massacre against Palestinians & saying we can’t be silent about it, to an incoherent answer she gave to a recent question on how to achieve peace between Israelis & Palestinians (2/14)

Allegedly, the contrast between one tweet & one bad answer to a question proves she was progressive in 2018 while now choosing to be a vapid centrist by comparison. Can you spot the logical fallacy in this conclusion? (3/14)

If we’re interested in knowing where AOC stands on Palestine, we have to look at her WHOLE record, not arbitrarily pick her worst moments. So, let’s look at her record & see if it looks like that of a panderer to the Israel lobby: (4/14)

In 2019, she stood in solidarity with Congresswomen Rashida Talib and Ilhan Omar when they were denied entry by Israel, and said she wouldn’t go to Israel until they were allowed to go. (5/14)

In June 2020, she led a congressional letter to the State Dept saying Israel’s path of annexation was leading to apartheid, & that if Israel continued down this path, there should be a reduction in US funding of Israel & human rights conditions placed on this funding. (6/14)

In September 2020, she pulled out of an event honoring assassinated Israeli PM Rabin once she was informed of his actual legacy of brutal violence towards Palestinians (instead of the whitewashed “man of peace” legacy). (7/14)

In March this year, she signed on to a congressional letter to the Biden admin objecting to the brutal siege on Gaza & calling on the admin to explicitly reject Israel’s settler-colonialism & to investigate whether US money was funding Israeli crimes like home demolitions. (8/14)

Just a couple of weeks ago, she was an original cosponsor of an unprecedented bill in Congress called the “Defending the Human Rights of Palestinian Children and Families Living Under Israeli Military Occupation” Act. (9/14).

Every single one of these letters & bills infuriated AIPAC. Now seriously sit with this list & ask yourself: Does this look like the behavior of someone who is selling out her principles for the Israel lobby’s approval? (10/14).

Of course, NONE OF THIS is to say AOC is above criticism. When she gives a bad answer to a question (as she has), we should call it out & push her to do better. But we should also do it in good faith, without caricaturing her record as if she were pro-AIPAC or something. (11/14)

Serious congressional advocacy means BOTH (A) acknowledging a political leader’s positions that are moral and courageous, and (B) criticizing them for positions or statements that are disappointing. That’s how you create an incentive for them to do better. (12/14).

But if we ignore any positive steps & offer nothing but an onslaught of insults & demonization over every misstep, that’s a recipé for getting someone to disengage on our issue entirely, because it’s all cost & no benefit to them. (13/14)

This ^ approach might be rewarding for social media traction, but it’s not serious & strategic advocacy, & the causes we work on are too important to prioritize Twitter dunks over the meaningful change we’re fighting for. (14/END)