ITHACA, NEW YORK — It’s socialist red at Big Red!
Cornell University’s lefty crowd gave Democratic Socialist superstar Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a warm, hate-filled welcome by singing anti-Israel chants at a campaign event meant to gin up support for Democrats ahead of the midterms Sunday.
While warming up the standing-room-only crowd of roughly 2,000 people gathered for the congresswoman’s “Students vs. Billionaires” town hall in downtown Ithaca Sunday, Cornell University Young Democratic Socialists of America co-chairs Mina Petrova and Zoe Reisman led the crowd singing “from the river to the sea” and declaring “long live the student intifada.”
“Cornell is fundamentally a capitalist institution that prioritizes billionaires and profit over students and community and is controlled by CEO trustees that are profiting off of genocide and war,” Petrova said to applause inside the Ithaca Downtown Conference Center.
The event, hosted along with the student activist organization More Perfect University, was billed by AOC’s campaign as “part of an effort by the Congresswoman to boost turnout in Democratic strongholds ahead of the November election.”
Ocasio-Cortez, who is campaigning upstate to boost her image ahead of a potential run for president or US Senate, took shots at Cornell for — what she says — amounted to suppressing free speech of student protesters.
“Whether it’s the issue about Palestine or many others. Whether it’s about people trying to fire those who are forming a union in their workplace, whether it’s people trying to speak up about a number of different issues, we have to respond to that first crackdown,” she said.
“When we come out in numbers, they cannot take us all,” she added.
The chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” however, was overwhelmingly ruled to be antisemitic by the US House of Representatives. Critics say the motto, which refers to the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, is a call for the eradication of Israel and its people.
Ocasio-Cortez voted against the 2024 resolution declaring the phrase to be hateful.
The Bronx-Queens congresswoman, who rose to stardom by shockingly defeating Queens Democratic boss Joe Crowley during Democrats’ last midterm surge in 2018, was planning on appearing with Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier Sunday.
A spokesperson for the Governor’s office said Hochul backed out of a planned appearance with Ocasio-Cortez earlier in the day in Ithaca.
Her office said the cancellation was due to the nor’easter hitting New York City, though Hochul did not have any public events Sunday.
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