Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said her office had been marked with bloody signs a day after her remarks criticizing what is alleged to be Israel’s pager attack in Lebanon.
“Yesterday my House office was tagged with blood-splattered signs accusing me of supporting terrorism after I questioned the pager operation, which clearly runs counter to US policy,” she wrote in a Friday X post.
“They must live under a rock to not know I don’t take well to bullies,” she added. Yesterday my House office was tagged with blood-splattered signs accusing me of supporting terrorism after I questioned the pager operation, which clearly runs counter to US policy.
They must live under a rock to not know I don’t take well to bullies.
Per US Dept of Defense: pic.twitter.com/lCz1PnQUtv
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) September 20, 2024
On Tuesday, paging devices used by Hezbollah exploded across Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon. At least eight have died from the explosions along with nearly 3,000 wounded, including Hezbollah militants and others in Iran's envoy to Beirut, 200 of which are critically injured. Other reports have indicated more deaths occurred, though the exact number is unclear.
"More explosions were reported Wednesday in Lebanon after the pager bombings," per The Hill. "The Associated Press reported that Lebanon’s Health Ministry said at least 20 people were killed and more than 450 were wounded in the second wave.
Though Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary has deemed the detonations "Israeli aggression," Israeli officials have declined to comment, per BCC.
On Wednesday, Ocasio-Cortez claimed Israel was responsible for the attack, which she said “clearly and unequivocally violates international humanitarian law and undermines US efforts to prevent a wider conflict.”
“Congress needs a full accounting of the attack, including an answer from the State Department as to whether any US assistance went into the development or deployment of this technology,” she added.
When NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo asked the lawmaker if she would have similarly defended Al-Quaeda during the war in Iraq, she responded, “What did the 9 year old girl who was killed do to deserve that, Chris?”
Ocasio-Cortez was referring to Fatima Abdullah, one of two children killed during the detonations on Tuesday.
“Fatima was in the kitchen on Tuesday when a pager on the table began to beep, her aunt said,” The New York Times reported. “She picked up the device to bring it to her father and was holding it when it exploded, mangling her face and leaving the room covered in blood, she said.”
“Insinuating that anyone who questions how operations unfold, including civilian casualties, is siding with terrorists is a deeply ugly rearing of our past,” Ocasio-Cortez said to Cuomo. “Would you cheerlead going back into Afghanistan?”
Ocasio-Cortez also cited a section of the U.S. Department of Defense Law of War Manual on Friday, which states the following:Booby-Traps and Other Devices in the Form of Apparently Harmless Portable Objects Specifically Designed to Explode. It is prohibited in all circumstances to use booby-traps or other devices in the form of apparently harmless portable objects that are specifically designed and constructed to contain explosive material. This prohibition relates to booby-traps manufactured to resemble items, such as watches, personal audio players, cameras, toys, and the like. This prohibition is intended to prevent the production of large quantities of dangerous objects that can be scattered around and are likely to be attractive to civilians, especially children.
Several users argued that the pagers were used in a targeted manner, and were therefore permitted under manual’s guidelines.
