President Biden’s border crisis was likened to the plight of Palestinians by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez last week.
Speaking on the House floor, Ocasio-Cortez called out the Biden administration:
“We are scared to stand up to the incarceration of children in Palestine because maybe it’ll force us to confront the incarceration of children here on our border.”
The Democrat representative’s comments came as bloody exchanges between Israeli and pro-Palestinian fighters escalated.
The Middle East had experienced a period of lessening tensions and several significant peace accords between Israel and Arab neighbors during Donald Trump’s presidency.
But those positive steps appear to be quickly fading under the Biden administration. Many pro-Palestinian groups have long refused to accept Israel as a nation-state – at least one comprised of a majority Jewish population. Some advocate a “one-state” solution that would incorporate Palestinian populations who would render Jews a minority in the country.
Israel, meanwhile, has backed initiatives for a “two-state” solution, which would preserve Israel as a majority Jewish state. A two-state solution seemed close in 2000, as a result of marathon negotiations by then-President Bill Clinton with Arab and Israeli leaders. But, under the leadership of Yasser Arafat, Palestinians ultimately rejected a deal.
In linking the Palestinian situation with migrants from Central and South American nations teeming at the U.S. borders, AOC appeared to be trying to equate the two.
Whether Palestinians have a right to the territory they view as “occupied” by Israel has been a contentious, war-ravaged issue for more than 70 years. But can the circumstances of Guatemalans, Hondurans, Venezuelans, Argentinians, and Mexicans be equated with what’s going on between Palestinians and Israel?
AOC appears to be at least implicitly making that case.
Meanwhile, it was reported in March that over two million migrants will attempt to cross the U.S. southern border in 2021. That’s the highest number in 20 years.
