Shapiro On Fox: Ocasio-Cortez Claiming Jewish Ancestry Doesn't Matter If She Gives Cover To Anti-Semites
On Tuesday night, Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro, appearing on Fox News @ Night with host Shannon Bream, was asked about the claim by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that she had Jewish ancestry. Shapiro pointed out that Ocasio-Cortez gave cover to anti-Semites who supported sanctions against Israel, like Linda Sarsour, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar, by associating with them, and noted that Ocasio-Cortez was simply following in the footsteps of other Democrats, notably Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, who had made similar claims in order to distract from the policies they espoused that were bad for the Jewish people. He stated, “It’s an easy way of avoiding the question but it has about as much political weight as somebody being accused of racism and then saying, ‘Well, I once had a black friend.’”
Bream also brought up a Washington Post op-ed from a Democrat which criticized the March for Life for making Shapiro its keynote speaker in January, prompting Shapiro to answer, “The real question here is whether it is indeed about the unborn children, and that’s why whatever I’ve said about abortion has no relevance to Democrat or Republican other than the Democratic party has become the party of abortion.”
Bream started by playing a clip of Ocasio-Cortez claiming she has Jewish heritage, then commenting, “Ben, I know that you’ve raised some concerns or at least put it out that this potentially does not line up with some of her political leanings.”
Shapiro replied:
I’m very sick of politicians just generally claiming that some sort of heritage allows them to get off the hook for their current political positions. I’ve never heard anything about Ocasio-Cortez’s Jewish heritage before this. We’ve seen politicians like Hilary Clinton and John Kerry do the same thing talking about their Jewish heritage so they don’t actually have to talk about their policies with regard to Jews.Ocasio-Cortez is incredibly close with people like Linda Sarsour, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and she’s not shy about associating with folks who are fans of the anti-Semitic boycott, divestment and sanctions regime so, again, it’s an easy way of avoiding the question but it has about as much political weight as somebody being accused of racism and then saying, “Well, I once had a black friend.”
Bream mentioned one Twitter user who attacked Shapiro, calling him an Uncle Tom of Jews and adding, “In his mind, endorsing BDS somehow outweighs being Jewish …”
Shapiro answered;
Well, this is the usual line, that if you criticize Ocasio-Cortez in any way this is because you’re obsessed with Ocasio-Cortez. Again, here’s the reality: if you are in favor of boycotting, divesting and sanctioning the Jewish state but you’re fine with everything the Palestinians are doing, the Iranians are, the Saudis are doing, the Yemenis are doing, the Afghanis are doing or any other country in the region that has no human rights so speak of, but you’re somehow going to boycott Israel because somebody’s building an extra bathroom in Jewish East Jerusalem, then suddenly that’s not anti-Semitic? Of course that’s anti-Semitic by definition. The State Department says, if you are to treat Israel in a way you would treat no other state, then this is the definition of anti-Semitism. BDS is anti-Semitism and Ocasio-Cortez has not disassociated with anyone who has associated with BDS or radical anti-Israel activities.
Bream segued to Shapiro being named the keynote speaker at the March for Life in Washington, D.C. She asked, “Tell us about how you became associated with them and what message you hope to bring this year.”
Shapiro replied, "The March for Life is an amazing event. I’ve been watching it for years and I never had a chance to attend. When they came to me and offered me a keynote slot at the March for Life, I thought, what better way to bring attention to the most pressing social issue in America and of the time? It is the moral issue upon which all Americans will be judged, I think not only in this life, but in another. And future generations are going to look back and wonder how it is that so many Americans stood by and basically shrugged their shoulders as babies in the womb were killed for the sake of convenience. So I couldn’t be more excited about standing with the folks who are marching for life and standing with the unborn."
Bream mentioned an op-ed in The Washington Post on Tuesday from a Fordham University professor and member of Democrats for Life that criticized the March for Life for selecting Shapiro as their keynote speaker. The professor tweeted, “Hey, March for Life, who will be featured this year to represent the millions and millions of pro-lifers who don’t identify as politically conservative?”
Shapiro stated:
Well, again, I’m more than happy and I wish that there were more Democrats who identified as pro-life, but the question here is not whether it’s a conservative or leftist issue; the real question here is whether it is indeed about the unborn children, and that’s why whatever I’ve said about abortion has no relevance to Democrat or Republican other than the Democratic party has become the party of abortion. I wish that more Democrats were pro-life. It is not my fault or the fault of Republicans that so many Democrats have moved out of the pro-life category and into the radical pro-choice category and pretending otherwise is not going to change the facts on the ground.
Video below:
