Democratic Socialists pull endorsement of Ocasio-Cortez after she hosts panel on antisemitism

(New York Jewish Week) — The Democratic Socialists of America dropped its endorsement of New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez after she hosted a panel discussion on antisemitism.

The DSA said in a Tuesday statement that it was rescinding its conditional endorsement of Ocasio-Cortez’s reelection campaign after she “conflated anti-Zionism with antisemitism and condemned boycotting Zionist institutions” during the discussion she sponsored last month.

“This sponsorship is a deep betrayal to all those who’ve risked their welfare to fight Israeli apartheid and genocide through political and direct action,” the statement said.

Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat, condemned antisemitism in the public discussion with two Jewish activists — Amy Spitalnick, the CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, and Stacy Burdett, a former senior official at the Anti-Defamation League and U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

“Antisemitism, hate and violence against Jews because of their identity is real and it is dangerous,” Ocasio-Cortez said during the discussion. “When the Jewish community is threatened, the progressive movement is undermined.”

She also accused her critics of “weaponizing” antisemitism, saying, “False accusations of antisemitism are wielded against people of color and women of color by bad-faith political actors.”

Spitalnick lashed the DSA for pulling the endorsement.

“The fact that our nuanced, complex, and frank conversation on antisemitism is somehow beyond the pale for DSA should tell you everything you need to know,” she wrote in a post on X. JCPA, which promotes liberal causes, also supports Israel as the Jewish homeland and opposes efforts to undermine what it describes as “the Jewish people’s right to self-determination.” 

DSA said its National Political Committee had voted to endorse Ocasio-Cortez on June 23, two weeks after the panel, as long as she publicly opposed all funding to Israel, including for the Iron Dome missile defense system; opposed “all criminalization of anti-Zionism”; and backed the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel.

The national branch of the DSA said it had withdrawn the endorsement this week after receiving a request to do so from the party’s New York City branch and because Ocasio-Cortez was not meeting the party’s conditions. She will remain endorsed by DSA’s New York City chapter, the party said.

The national branch of the DSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on that discrepancy.

DSA took issue with other actions by Ocasio-Cortez, such as voting in favor of a House resolution that acknowledged Israel’s right to exist, while praising some of her pro-Palestinian activities, including labeling the war in Gaza a “genocide.”

Ocasio-Cortez is a member of the so-called “Squad,” a group of progressive lawmakers who are some of Israel’s harshest critics in Congress.

The war in Gaza has opened fissures on the left, and it has sparked tensions between Ocasio-Cortez and DSA in the past. The party’s New York branch has made anti-Israel activism a centerpiece of its politics since Oct. 7.

New York City’s DSA sponsored an anti-Israel Oct. 8 rally in Times Square that was widely condemned by Democratic party leaders, including Ocasio-Cortez, who said, “It should not be hard to shut down hatred and antisemitism where we see it.”

The party, and Ocasio-Cortez, backed the Democratic primary campaign of New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman, another member of the Squad who focused his campaign on Israel and pro-Israel funding for his opponent, George Latimer, a pro-Israel centrist. Bowman was soundly defeated in the primary vote last month, marking a significant setback for progressives.

Hardline pro-Palestinian groups in the city have tacked further to the left, targeting progressive lawmakers for supporting President Joe Biden, who the activists accuse of backing a “genocide” in Gaza.

As Ocasio-Cortez campaigned for Bowman at a rally in the Bronx last month, anti-Israel activists gathered on the sidelines to protest the event. Some of the protesters defaced Ocasio-Cortez campaign signs, writing “Zionist” and “Funds Israeli war crimes” across an image of her face.

“AOC, you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide,” they chanted.