 So I didn't have time to talk about this last week But I wanted to address this because it's such a bizarre story, and I don't even know how to process That's like the details surrounding this story are extremely weird And I don't even really have a conclusive thing to say about this other than I'm really disappointed in the outcome and specifically I'm disappointed in several Democratic Party lawmakers in particular AOC Jamal Bowman and Mondaire Jones So there is a vote on an additional one billion dollars in funding for the iron dome in Israel Which I would be 100% against because unless we're willing to fund a Palestinian iron dome, why are we funding defenses only for Israel and furthermore? Why aren't they funding their own defenses? They have a universal health care system and we don't They can pay for their own defense, right? So it's just it's totally unnecessary. It's it's virtue signaling. It's stupid The vote should obviously have been no however AOC voted no and then she had some sort of a heated exchange with Nancy Pelosi Which we don't necessarily know what was said, but then she changed her vote to present she was seen crying and being embraced by I believe Barbara Lee and A lot of people myself included were perplexed by this We don't know what happened clearly something happened But AOC tried to provide us with some clarification as to why she voted the way that she did and she released this unnecessarily long Convoluted statement that left me even more confused than I initially was and since this is so long I don't even want to really read this and waste your time on it But what we're gonna do is we're gonna read it at double speed So I'll read all of it, but just much faster than I normally would thanks to the magic of the editing So here we go to our New York 14 community yesterday the house called to the floor a rushed $1 billion supplemental military funding bill for Israel's dome defense system I want to be clear with our community that I'm opposed to this bill But ultimately cast a present vote my job as your representative is to first and foremost serve with transparency and remain accountable to you The people of New York's 14th congressional district first Let me begin with why I believe this bill should have been opposed contrary to popular narrative This bill was not for all us funding of the iron dome and opposing it would not to fund us financing of the system in any way shape Or form since 2011 the US has provided 1.7 billion for the iron dome and is already financially committed to continuing these funds through 2028 this bill adds an additional $1 billion in funding in one year to the system alone for context as an amount in one year that approaches all the funding to the System we have provided over the last decade and this is in addition to 3 billion authorized earlier this year in other forms of military funding to the Israeli government I believe strongly that Congress should take greater scrutiny with all military funding across the world I also believe that for far too long the US has handed unconditional aid to the Israeli government while doing nothing to address or raise the persistent human rights abuses against the Palestinian people and that this imbalance of power must be centered in any honest conversation about Israel and Palestine in addition to the many other governments we militarily fund with the pattern of human rights abuses such as the Saudi and Columbia related amendments I introduced last week as well in addition to opposing the substance of the iron dome supplemental bill The process of bringing it to the House floor was deeply unjust the legislative language itself was initially introduced earlier this week by Way of an attempt to quietly slip this funding into routine legislation without any of the usually necessary committee debate markup or regular Order of funding leap this significant is a policy area that is already so charged and fraught for many communities particularly our own Deserves the respect of a proper legislative process Unfortunately that process did not happen and the reckless decision by House leadership to rush this controversial vote within a matter of Hours and without true consideration created a turn box of vitriol disingenuous framing deeply racist accusations and depictions and lack of substantive Discussion on this matter I want to be clear that the decision to rush this vote virtually preventing any member from meanfully consulting with their community was both intentional and Unnecessary even the night before as it became clear that the discourse around this issue was quickly developing from substance to hateful targeting I personally had a call with the house majority leader to request a 24-hour stay of the vote so that we could do the work necessary to Bring on the temperature and volatility explain our positions and gauge our communities that request was summarily dismissed Not only was the request dismissed but despite the house having almost eight straight hours of votes yesterday This vote was chosen to be the first despite being one of the most controversial the damage of this careless process created very real spillover effects It's our community It created a real sense of panic and horror among those in our community We otherwise engage thoughtfully in these discussions and feel the discussion to devolve to a point where it became clear that this Vote would risk a severe devolution of the good faith community fabric that allows us to responsibly join in a struggle for human Rights and dignity everywhere from Palestine to the Bronx and Queens In short the rush of this vote into a matter of hours was threatening to tear our community apart and permanently close the Doors that we desperately need to open in order to progress yes I wept I wept at the complete lack of care for the human beings that are impacted by these decisions I wept at an institution choosing a path of maximum volatility and then one consideration for its own political convenience And I wept at the complete lack of regard I often feel our party has to its most vulnerable and dangerous members and communities because the death Rats and dangerous vitriol weed inevitably received by rushing such a sensitive charge and under considered vote weren't worth delaying It even for a few hours to help us do the work necessary to open a conversation of understanding It certainly wasn't the first time people's well-being was tossed aside for political convenience and sadly I do not believe it will be the last to those I disappointed I'm deeply sorry to those who believe this reasoning is insufficient or cowardice I understand to those who asked me to call the volatility of this moment in our community which constitute the majority of constituent feedback Our office received. I hope you can take this moment an opportunity to more deeply engage in and grow a true substantive movement of community support for human rights around the world Which includes cherishing and respecting the human rights of Palestinian people what? I'm so confused. I'm way more confused now than I was before So she's against The funding for this bill. She doesn't like it and she supports the Palestinian people on the human rights struggle But she still voted present I just don't understand you voted present because you didn't have an opportunity to consult with your community I mean if you already think that this is bad They already elected you twice now to represent them so just vote no I just I don't understand like the only thing that I Can expect or or suspect rather is that she voted no and Nancy Pelosi badgered her or something like that on the floor I Mean it's just it's weird because if Nancy Pelosi were going around trying to whip up votes for this Once she doesn't necessarily have to do this because it passed handily and to you'd expect her to also go to Rashida Thleeb Ilhan Omar and badger them as well because they voted no as well. So why would she? Single out AOC. I'm genuinely perplexed here. This doesn't make any sense to me And you know for an issue like this that she claims is controversial. It's not actually controversial This was voted on Overwhelmingly and when it comes to funding Israel, I'd argue that it's not actually that controversial in the House of Representatives Most members of Congress overwhelmingly support Israel unconditionally. So it's not controversial It's only controversial if you don't do it your constituents want now when it comes to the other progressives I think that they're equally guilty. Jamal Bowman, Mondair Jones. So I don't want a single AOC out It's just that I think that she knew that the left would be disappointed in this And so she chose to put out a response. Well, the response doesn't really do anything to quell the disappointment that we feel because the response is nonsensical in my opinion it doesn't make any sense and I just I mean if Ilhan Omar and Rashida Thleeb voted no then why didn't you that's basically what it comes down to and the Excuses that you're giving us don't make any sense to me and I don't buy it So, you know having said that though I'm not going to overly target AOC here. This situation I mean it was hopeless right even if AOC Jamal Bowman and Mondair Jones did what they should have done and voted No on this it still would have passed. So there's this broader issue of trying to Normalize criticism of Israel good-faith criticism of their abuse of the Palestinian people But that is really a momentous task and the reason why I'm so disappointed as A leftist is because progressives in Congress like AOC They really are the ones who can move the ball move the needle in a positive direction What they did over the summer when Israel did their incursion into Gaza once again And we're slaughtering children when AOC Rashida Thleeb Corey Bush all on the floor condemned Israel and called it a Palestinian apartheid or and called it a part in a apartheid state That really made a difference that for the first time started to change the mainstream Conversation around this issue. So when you do something like this, it just it is cowardly. That's what it is It doesn't seem cowardly. It is cowardly, but it's not just AOC It's Jamal Bowman and Mondair Jones as well So, you know things like this are really really Frustrating to me because you're gonna have people on the left who are basically anti-electoral politics They're gonna use this as evidence that electing more progressives is a bad idea because they're just gonna disappoint you But contrary to popular belief I actually think that this should fuel the fight to get more progressives elected as we approach the 2022 primary season, right? Because if you have more progressives, you're just going to increase the odds of Them not disappointing you of them making votes that you agree with it's just pure math And most of the time the squad gets it right, but sometimes they get it wrong So the more progressives that you have the more you better your chances at getting votes That we want having votes go our way or the way that's not as bad as they usually are So overall, I hope that AOC takes this as a learning opportunity and what this tells me is that she did anticipate some sort of pushback from the left and That's why she put out the statement. I mean, I don't believe Jamal Bowman or Mondair Jones put out a statement So that tells me that they're either they don't know like they're ignorant to the pushback that they should have expected to receive But AOC by putting out the statement and kind of tells me that she knew that this was wrong and That she does feel as if she appears to be a coward and she should because this was a very disappointing vote There's no reason to switch your vote from no to present. I mean, it's not like this was the one vote that Decided what happened, but what's the point like if you're gonna vote present like why vote at all? It's such a pointless Meaningless gesture and when I see a present vote, it just it makes me feel like oh, well, that's that's a cowardly thing to do But either way, I'm not gonna be on a beat up on AOC too much for this It's bizarre and weird, but in the future you can avoid any controversy whatsoever if you just do what you know What you've proven to know is Is the right thing and this was not the right thing so AOC do better