Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a left-wing New York Democrat, drew criticism from her base after voting to oppose legislation that would have cut funding to Israel’s aerial defense system.
The legislation was an amendment to the defense appropriations bill that would have slashed $500 million for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense program. It was proposed by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right Georgia Republican who has previously advocated against U.S. funding to Israel, and separately by Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat who is one of the fiercest critics of Israel in Congress.
The amendment was struck down by a vote of 422-6. In addition to Omar and Greene, Democrats Al Green of Texas, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Summer Lee of Pennsylvania also supported it, as well as Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who opposes all foreign aid.
The overall Department of Defense Appropriations Act passed Friday with a vote of 221-209, allocating $832 billion in defense funding for 2026.
Ocasio-Cortez is part of the “Squad” of progressive lawmakers that includes Omar, Tlaib and Lee and often votes with them. Her vote against the bill reignited criticism from another frequent ally, the Democratic Socialists of America, which wrote in a statement Saturday that promoting any aid to Israel is “unacceptable.”
“An arms embargo means keeping all arms out of the hands of a genocidal military, no exceptions. This is why we oppose Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’[s] vote against an amendment that would have blocked $500 million in funding for the Israeli military’s Iron Dome program,” the DSA said in a statement.
Last year, the DSA pulled their endorsement of Ocasio-Cortez after she hosted a panel on antisemitism that the group said “conflated anti-Zionism with antisemitism and condemned boycotting Zionist institutions.”
In a post on X Saturday, Ocasio-Cortez defended her vote against the amendment, writing that Greene’s amendment “does nothing to cut off offensive aid to Israel nor end the flow of US munitions being used in Gaza,” which she suggested she would oppose.
“I have long stated that I do not believe that adding to the death count of innocent victims to this war is constructive to its end. That is a simple and clear difference of opinion that has long been established,” wrote Ocasio-Cortez. “I remain focused on cutting the flow of US munitions that are being used to perpetuate the genocide in Gaza.”
On Sunday night, Ocasio-Cortez’ headquarters in New York was defaced with red paint by a group called the Boogie Down Liberation Front. The group also put a poster on the facade that read “AOC Funds Genocide in Gaza.”
In a statement shared with reporter Ashoka Jegroo, the group said, “The Bronx is sick and tired of people like AOC and Ritchie Torres using us as a stepping stone for their own political careers.” (Torres, also a Democrat, is a staunch supporter of Israel.)
In 2021, Ocasio-Cortez also faced backlash for another Iron Dome-related bill. After successfully lobbying for the removal of $1 billion in funding for the defensive system, in a stand-alone vote to reallocate the funding, Ocasio-Cortez voted “present” and it passed 420-9.
In a statement responding the backlash at the time, Ocasio-Cortez wrote that while she had opposed the bill, the decision by House leadership to rush the vote created a “tinderbox of vitriol, disingenuous framing, deeply racist accusations and depictions, and lack of substantive discussion on this matter.”
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