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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., faced backlash for her social media post in which she attempted to compare Jesus to the Palestinian people and criticize Israel but did not mention Hamas or its hostages.
“In the Christmas story, Christ was born in what is now Palestine under the threat of a government that was carrying out a massacre of innocents,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote, referring to Jews who lived in the country under Roman control more than 2,000 years ago . “He was part of a target group killed indiscriminately to protect the power of an unjust leader.”
“Thousands of years later, right-wing forces are violently occupying Bethlehem, while similar stories are playing out for Palestinians today, so much so that the Christian community in Bethlehem has canceled this year’s Christmas Eve celebrations.” [fear for their] Security and respect,” she added, even though the area is currently under the control of the Palestinian Authority.
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“The entire story of Christmas and Christ himself is about standing with the poor and powerless, the marginalized and reviled, the refugees and immigrants, the outcast and misunderstood, without exception,” she concluded.
JESUS WAS BORN IN THIS VILLAGE. NOW THEY HAVE CANCELED CHRISTMAS. ARE HIS FOLLOWERS NO LONGER WELCOME?
House Oversight and Accountability Committee Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) speaks to reporters while joined by fellow House Democrats in the Rayburn House Office Building on December 13, 2023 in Washington, DC (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images). )
Jacob Kornbluh, a senior political reporter at The Forward, responded with a post on
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Pro-Israel activist Andrea Karshan complained that some people don't enjoy Christmas but instead try to “make social justice so political,” the New York Post reported.
New York city councilwoman's glamorous dress sends message to 'the troops'
Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Holy Land's top Catholic cleric, arrives at the Church of the Nativity, traditionally considered the birthplace of Jesus, on Christmas Eve in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Sunday, Dec. 24, 2023. Bethlehem is experiencing a subdued Christmas after officials in Jesus' traditional birthplace decided to forgo celebrations due to the Israel-Hamas war. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Ocasio-Cortez joined 23 Democrats in November to ask President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken for details on their plans to de-escalate violence in the region as Israel continues its invasion of Gaza.
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“We reiterate our unequivocal condemnation of the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, in which Hamas killed over 1,200 Israelis and foreigners and took over 200 hostages who were subsequently taken to Gaza,” the Democrats wrote.
“We also share grave concerns about the ongoing Israeli response, in which the Israel Defense Forces have killed over 11,078 Palestinians, almost half of whom were children,” they continued, citing Hamas figures.
Bernie Sanders is against “Squad” and rejects a permanent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas
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A woman lights a candle next to an installation of a scene of the Nativity with a figure symbolizing “the baby Jesus lying in his manger amid rubble,” a reference to Gaza, at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank December 6, 2023, a few weeks before Christmas amid ongoing fighting between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (HAZEM BADER/AFP via Getty Images)
Bethlehem, the longtime birthplace of Jesus Christ, announced it would not hold its usual Christmas celebrations in solidarity with Gaza and the ongoing violence. Decorations that were regularly put up were also removed “in honor of the martyrs,” the city council wrote in a post on Facebook.
Theologian Jonathan Morris told Fox News that the entire decision amounts to a “political statement that overrides something that we Christians and the Christians of Bethlehem hold to be so sacred.”
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However, a Bethlehem City Council spokesman told the Telegraph in November that celebrating was “inappropriate” “while there is a massacre in Gaza and attacks in the West Bank.”
Fox News Digital's Megan Myers contributed to this report.