Rep. AOC Says Harris Is ‘Working Tirelessly to Secure a Ceasefire’

On Monday night, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) helped kick off the Democratic National Convention with a primetime speech. Her remarks, which lasted just under seven minutes, were an impressive demonstration of how quickly the Democratic star has risen in the party: In 2020, she spoke for barely 90 seconds to symbolically nominate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for president. This year, Ocasio-Cortez thanked President Joe Biden for his leadership and gave a full-throated endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. As far as Democratic Party convention speeches go, Ocasio-Cortez’s was encouraging.

The congresswoman first reminisced about her unlikely path to Congress: “My family was fighting off foreclosure, and we were struggling with bills after my dad passed away unexpectedly from cancer, like millions of Americans, we were just looking for an honest shake, and we were tired of a cynical politics that seemed blind to the realities of working people,” she said. “It was then only through the miracles of democracy and community” that she was able to topple a 20-year incumbent in the 2018 midterms.

As part of Ocasio-Cortez’s case for Harris, the congresswoman said Harris is “for the middle class because she’s from the middle class,” and that she’s “as committed to our reproductive and civil rights as she is to taking on corporate greed.” To uproarious applause, Ocasio-Cortez added, “She is working tirelessly to secure a ceasefire and bring home the hostages.”

AOC’s transformation since 2018 is remarkable. She started our helping lead a climate sit-in in Pelosi’s office. Now she’s speaking in the lead up to Biden’s speech at the DNC and thanking his administration for its leadership pic.twitter.com/kxGjw1KjOv

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— Akela Lacy (@akela_lacy) August 20, 2024

Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks come as Gaza’s Health Ministry reports over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since October. In July, Harris met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to D.C. After their meeting, Harris said she’d pushed Netanyahu to work toward an immediate ceasefire in Gaza: “What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating,” she said. “The images of dead children and desperate hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third or fourth time.”

But as of Monday, the official Democratic Party platform neglects to call for an arms embargo, which means the party continues to support sending bombs, weapons, and money to Israel to carry out its genocide against Palestinians. Pro-Palestine organizers including members of the national Uncommitted movement have expressed appreciation for Harris’ rhetoric and stated empathy for Palestinians, but as the Uncommitted movement wrote earlier this month, “Palestinians cannot eat words. Our communities are in deep pain. The bombs must end and Palestinian and Israeli families must be reunited.” Harris absolutely should be “working tirelessly” toward securing a ceasefire, as Ocasio-Cortez put it. But it’s unclear how that’s possible while continuing to send weapons to Israel.

Nonetheless, that Ocasio-Cortez’s line about a ceasefire garnered such enthusiastic applause makes even clearer this is what most Democrats overwhelmingly want.

Notable that even such a brief mention to the idea of Kamala Harris working towards a ceasefire prompted such an enthusiastic response. Seems like actually dedicating a speaker slot to a Palestinian or someone who speaks to the suffering in Gaza would be prudent? https://t.co/QjllAAhLPm

— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) August 20, 2024

Earlier in her remarks, Ocasio-Cortez recounted her time as a service worker. “Ever since I got elected, Republicans have attacked me by saying that I should go back to bartending,” she said. “I’m happy to any day of the week because there is nothing wrong with working for a living.” She’s now a primetime speaker at the DNC, prompting passionate cheers from the crowd for advocating for a ceasefire. Hopefully, the congresswoman will continue to wield her growing influence to push the Democratic ticket to support more decisive action to stop the genocide in Gaza.

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