AOC isn't radical enough for the anti-Israel Left. It's a sinister sign of the future

Telegraph

2 days ago

'AOC funds genocide in Gaza', announced a sign posted outside the Bronx campaign office of progressive New York Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In a particularly chilling gesture, the office's windows were splattered with red paint, including a splotch big enough to blot out an image of her face.
An anti-Israel group called the 'Boogie Down Liberation Front' took responsibility for Monday night's act of vandalism in a message to a local journalist, stating 'The Bronx is sick and tired of people like AOC … using us as a stepping stone for their own political careers'. It added that their community 'stands with the people of Palestine and we denounce the hypocrisy of AOC who voted to fund Israel's ongoing genocide and starvation campaign in Gaza.'
At immediate issue was Ocasio-Cortez's vote last Friday against an amendment to a military spending bill that would have cut millions in aid to Israel for its air defence systems. The amendment, which only six Congressmen supported, was proposed by Ocasio-Cortez's polar political opposite, Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican Congresswoman from Georgia, whose apparent motivation was her belief that Israel no longer requires American taxpayer assistance due to its successful military operations earlier this year. Greene's amendment was also supported by noted anti-Israel Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.
Ocasio-Cortez has argued that the amendment would have done 'nothing to cut off offensive aid to Israel nor end the flow of US munitions being used in Gaza'. She maintains that she still believes Israel is committing genocide, but that it should not be denied defensive weapons. That was not enough for some increasingly extreme factions on the Left, however, which consider approving any amount of support for Israel to be unacceptable.
It should go without saying that nobody should be cheering on the vandalism of any politician's campaign office. Ocasio-Cortez's campaign has also revealed that she has received an increased number of death threats in recent days – a disturbing reminder that political violence is never far from the surface in American politics today.
It also says something very concerning about where the American Left is heading that she should become a target of their vitriol. Back in 2018, she had a roaring start on the Left-wing of the Democratic Party. A one-time barmaid who claimed to speak progressive, working class truth to corporate power, regardless of party, she rode the anti-incumbency trend in the midterm elections of Donald Trump's first presidency to become the youngest woman ever to sit in the US Congress. She went on to be one of the very few American politicians so well known that her initials often supersede her name, a distinction usually reserved for presidents of the order of FDR or JFK.
In office, AOC emerged as the best known member of the 'Squad', a small group of Left-wing Congresswomen whom many progressives hailed as the future of US politics. Her radical agenda made her a role model for young Democrats who distrust their party's older and more moderate leadership, and a bugbear for flustered Republicans who only made her more popular in constant media attacks.
In recent years, however, AOC seems to have lost her progressive lustre, even if her politics haven't really changed. Last year, her stance on Israel caused the Democratic Socialists of America – a national progressive organisation that had backed her since her first standing for office – to withdraw its endorsement, accusing her of 'deep betrayal'.
AOC clearly retains substantial popularity among Democrats – at over $15 million, her campaign contributions in 2025 exceed those of all other members of Congress this year as she considers greater ambitions, possibly including a primary challenge to fellow Democrat Chuck Schumer for his New York Senate seat. Some 72 per cent of those funds came from outside her congressional district.
But the vandalism at her office – alongside other trends, like the emergence of Zohran Mamdani as the Democrat nominee for mayor of New York City – suggests that the Left is beginning to turn in a far more sinister direction.
Paul du Quenoy is a historian and president of the Palm Beach Freedom Institute.