U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez deserved coal in her Christmas stocking after setting off a firestorm of criticism for politicizing the holiday.

The New York Democrat was buried under deserved backlash after delivering a warped version of the story of Christmas in a Christmas Eve message on Sunday in which she used the birth of Jesus Christ to make a political comparison to the current conflict in Israel.

“In the story of Christmas, Christ was born in modern-day Palestine under the threat of a government engaged in a massacre of innocents,” Ocasio-Cortez shared in an Instagram story.

“He was part of a targeted population being indiscriminately killed to protect an unjust leader’s power. Mary and Joseph, displaced by violence and forced to flee, became refugees in Egypt with a newborn waiting to one day return home,” she continued.

“Thousands of years later, right-wing forces are violently occupying Bethlehem as similar stories unfold for today’s Palestinians, so much so that the Christian community in Bethlehem has cancelled this year’s Christmas Eve celebrations out of both safety and respect,” the far-left member of the so-called ‘Squad’ went on.

Under the Oslo Accords, the city of Bethlehem – the birthplace of Jesus – transferred from Israeli to Palestinian control in 1995.

“And yet, also today, holy children are still being born in a place of unspeakable violence — for every child born, of any identity and from any place, is sacred. Especially the children of Gaza,” she declared.

Jacob Kornbluh, the Forward’s senior political reporter, pointed out on X where he shared a screenshot of Ocasio-Cortez’s Instagram story that there is “No mention of Hamas terror, [or] the victims of [the] Oct. 7 attack” in her post.

AOC describes Israel as a ‘violent right wing occupying force’ in Christmas post. No mention of Hamas terror, the victims of Oct. 7 attack. pic.twitter.com/oajJnYLAOF

— Jacob N. Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) December 24, 2023

“The entire story of Christmas and Christ himself is about standing with the poor and powerless, the marginalized and maligned, the refugees and immigrants, the outcast and misunderstood, without exception,” the New York lawmaker wrote. “This high Christian holiday is about honoring the precious sanctity of a family that, if the story were to unfold today, would be Jewish Palestinians.”

Her premise was slammed on social media where many X users called out her distorted version of the truth.

“Nothing to see here… just a Democratic congresswoman with a large social media following openly hating on Jews in broad daylight,” columnist Joe Concha wrote.

And no mention of hostages and rape. He Jew hate is really showing here

— Harriet (@harriet75) December 24, 2023

What @AOC tells you: If the Christmas story were to happen today, Jesus’ family would be Jewish Palestinians.

What @AOC doesn’t tell you: Jewish Palestinians don’t exist and Jews aren’t allowed to live in or even enter various parts of the Palestinian Territories.

Merry…

— Jordyn (@JordynTilchen) December 25, 2023

The real reason Jesus wasn’t a Palestinian, Jewish or otherwise is that the region was never called Palestine until 100 years AFTER he lived and died. By the time it was called Palestine, almost all the Jews had been expelled from the region by the Romans.

— TTBK_II – Mortuis Iudaeis Veritas (@TTBKthe2nd) December 25, 2023

It’s a real shame she can’t reach to enrich the lives of her constituents in the same way she reaches to compare things that are in no way related.

— Mannster (@RickMann178) December 26, 2023

She’s equating biblical history to ppl occupying those places today.
Israel became a nation in 1948

— GrinningSoul (@MsGrinningSoul) December 26, 2023

Astounding how the Xmas story is reimagined through a Palestinian lens, as if there existed the ancestors of today’s Palestinians then. There’s a part of me that believes the more the world denies the crimes inflicted against Jews/Israelies, the longer this war will go on.

— Risa A Levine (@risal770) December 24, 2023

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Frieda Powers

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Frieda@bizpacreview.com

Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.

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