Far-left US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) criticized the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night for what she sees as excluding Palestinian Arab voices.
"Just as we must honor the humanity of hostages, so too must we center the humanity of the 40,000 Palestinians killed under Israeli bombardment," AOC wrote on X.
"To deny that story is to participate in the dehumanization of Palestinians. The DNC must change course and affirm our shared humanity," she added.
The number that Ocasio-Cortez uses, 40,000, is the estimate of the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. It is unknown how accurate the number is, as well as what percentage of those estimated by Hamas to have been killed were terrorists.
Together with her post on X, the congresswoman shared an opinion piece by African American activist Ta-Nehisi Coates in Vanity Fair in which he villanizes Israel and accuses Israel of having institutionalized racism, which he describes as an "ethnocracy," comparing it to the US's racist Jim Crow laws.
Ocasio-Cortez's criticism comes shortly after Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, the parents of Hersh, who is being held by Hamas, addressed the DNC.