AOC endorses Harris for President after Biden withdraws

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), one of the members of “The Squad” of progressive lawmakers, announced on Sunday she is backing US Vice President Kamala Harris for President, following the withdrawal from the race of President Joe Biden.

"Kamala Harris will be the next President of the United States. I pledge my full support to ensure her victory in November," Ocasio-Cortez, known by her initials AOC, wrote in a post on X.

"Now more than ever, it is crucial that our party and country swiftly unite to defeat Donald Trump and the threat to American democracy. Let’s get to work," she added.

Ocasio-Cortez was a forceful defender of Biden in recent days amid speculation that he would drop out of the race, NBC News reported.

“If you 10,000% are super convinced that the candidate, or president, cannot beat Donald Trump, then do what you think is in your good conscience. But I have not seen an alternative scenario that, I feel, does not set us up for enormous peril,” she said on Friday.

AOC and the other members of “The Squad” have been vocal in their opposition to the Biden administration’s policy on Israel.

In 2019, Ocasio-Cortez criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 News while arguing that criticizing Israel’s policies is not being antisemitic.

In a previous radio interview, Ocasio-Cortez said that Israel is “criminal” in its treatment of Palestinian Arabs, whom she said have no other choice but to “riot” against the Jewish state.

Before that, she said that cutting military and economic aid to Israel as a way to signal opposition to Israeli policies should be “on the table.” AOC has also called Israel an “apartheid state”.

In March, Ocasio-Cortez accused Israel of genocide against Palestinian Arabs. She later defended her usage of the term “genocide”, telling CNN that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has “crossed the threshold of intent.”