TV anchor Chris Cuomo criticizes progressive firebrand Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to condemn Israel On its use Pager explosions were carried out to kill Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
Cuomo, the host of his prime time news talk show on the NewsNation cable channel, called out a “Squad” member after the New York Democrat accused him of Israel has been accused of “clearly violating international humanitarian law”.
“Why don’t you mention it? The pagers were on members of the terrorist organization Cuomo responded, “This is a government committed to destroying Israel?”
“Would you have been defending al-Qaeda when the US was burning them in Iraq?”
Ocasio-Cortez responded to Cuomo, saying the nine-year-old Lebanese girl was one of two children Killed in pager attacks.
He wrote, “Chris, what did the 9-year-old girl who was murdered do to deserve this?”
“To allege that anyone who questions the course of the operation, including civilian casualties, is siding with the terrorists is a very ugly portrayal of our past. Would you welcome going back to Afghanistan?”
On his NewsNation show, Cuomo pointed out that Ocasio-Cortez's office in Congress had been vandalized by protesters.
The Congress member wrote on Twitter that her office was “pasted with blood-stained posters accusing her of supporting terrorism.”
“They must be living under a rock not to know that I do not tolerate threats,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote.
On his Friday show on NewsNation, Cuomo said Ocasio-Cortez was “totally wrong” about her criticisms of Israel — specifically on whether putting explosives inside pagers violated US rules.
“One, Israel is not part of the United States, so they don't follow our laws or rules,” Cuomo said.
“Second, if the delegates were suggesting through this comparison that the United States should not support Israel, then good luck to them in that.”
Cuomo said the Pentagon's combat manual prohibits the “indiscriminate” use of bomb traps.
He said Israel was justified in using the pager tactic because “a group of bloody terrorists were coming to attack them.”
“So, did she not read that part because she's not a lawyer or didn't read it thoroughly, or did she purposely not want to be fair?”
Cuomo said Ocasio-Cortez doesn't value her opponents as “human beings” as she does herself — particularly in light of her response to her office being vandalized.
“Speak out against this, come to my office and do these ugly things,” Cuomo said.
“Imagine if they had actually sent a bomb threat. That would have been pretty bad, right?”
Cuomo said Ocasio-Cortez failed to condemn bomb threats made against Rep. Paulina Luna (R-Florida), adding: “And she said nothing about the assassination attempts against former President Trump.”
“Clearly, she doesn’t value her opponents as human beings as much as she does herself,” Cuomo said of Ocasio-Cortez.
“This is a bigger problem than them misapplying the law and accusing a besieged ally of war crimes.”
The Post has sought comment from Ocasio-Cortez.
