TV host Chris Cuomo criticized progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for denouncing Israel for its use of exploding payments to kill Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon.
Cuomo, host of his flagship news show on the NewsNation cable channel, called out the member of “The Squad” after the New York Democrat accused Israel of “clear and unequivocal violations[ing] international humanitarian law.”
“Why don’t you mention that the payments were to members of a terrorist organization committed to destroying Israel?” Cuomo fired back.
“Would you have defended Al Qaeda when America was blowing them up in Iraq?”
Ocasio-Cortez responded to Cuomo, noting that a nine-year-old Lebanese girl was one of two children killed in the pager attacks.
“What did the 9-year-old girl who was murdered do to deserve this, Chris?” she wrote.
“To suggest that anyone who questions how operations are conducted, including civilian casualties, is on the side of the terrorists is a deeply ugly education of our past. Would you rush back to Afghanistan?”
On his NewsNation show, Cuomo noted that Ocasio-Cortez’s congressional office was vandalized by protesters.
The congresswoman wrote in X that her office was “tagged with incriminating blood spatter marks [her] for supporting terrorism.”
“They must be living under a rock not to know that I do not take kindly to bullies,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote.
On his NewsNation show Friday, Cuomo said Ocasio-Cortez was “very wrong” about her criticism of Israel — especially if placing explosives inside pagers is a violation of U.S. regulations.
“One, Israel is not one of the United States, so they don’t follow our laws or our rules,” Cuomo said.
“Secondly, if the representative was suggesting by that comparison that the United States should not support Israel, good luck with that.”
Cuomo said the Pentagon’s Law of War Manual prohibited the “indiscriminate” use of stun guns.
He said Israel was justified in using pager tactics because “a group of bloodthirsty terrorists [were] coming for [them].”
“So, did she not read that part because she’s not a lawyer or incomplete, or she deliberately didn’t want to be fair?”
Cuomo said Ocasio-Cortez didn’t value her opponents as “people” like herself — especially in light of her reaction to the vandalism of her office.
“Speak out against this, coming and doing these ugly things in my office,” Cuomo said.
“Imagine if they had sent a real bomb threat. It would be much worse, wouldn’t it?”
Cuomo said Ocasio-Cortez failed to condemn the bomb threats made against Rep. Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), adding, “And she said nothing about the assassination attempts on former President Trump.”
“Clearly, she doesn’t value her opponents as people the way she values herself,” Cuomo said of Ocasio-Cortez.
“This is a bigger problem than her breaking the law and accusing an ally under siege of war crimes.”
The Post has reached out to Ocasio-Cortez for comment.
#Chris #Cuomo #Attacks #AOC #Criticizing #Israels #Pager #Attack #Hezbollah #Defended #Qaeda
Image Source : nypost.com