Jewish Democrats turn on AOC after suggestion supporting Israel was ‘wildly unpopular’

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been accused of advancing "anti-Semitic" views by Jewish Democrats after she suggested that support for Israel was "wildly unpopular".

Critics argued that the New York representative had "learned nothing" from the Democrats' losses in November's elections and blamed her "far-Left" ideology for the Republicans' clean sweep of the House of Representatives, Senate and White House.

On Sunday, Ms Ocasio-Cortez claimed that AIPAC, a prominent pro-Israel campaign group , was responsible for pushing voters away from the Democrats.

"If people want to talk about members of Congress being overly influenced by a special interest group pushing a wildly unpopular agenda that pushes voters away from Democrats then they should be discussing AIPAC," she wrote on social media.

The post was quickly condemned by prominent Jewish Democrats, including Ms Ocasio-Cortez's colleagues in the House. "If people want to talk about members of Congress being overly influenced by anti-pragmatic and anti-Semitic interests pushing a wildly unpopular agenda that pushes voters away from Democrats," Dean Phillips, a Jewish congressman, responded.

Esther Panitch, a Jewish Democrat from Georgia, said Ms Ocasio-Cortez had "learned nothing from this last election loss".

"The American people have rejected the far-Left's BS claims against Israel," she added.

Republicans enjoyed a clean sweep in elections this month, with Donald Trump beating Kamala Harris for the presidency, while retaining hold of the House and winning back the Senate .

Alma Hernandez, an Arizona representative, claimed that Ms Ocasio-Cortez's "real problem" is "with the Jews and Israel" and added: "Being a pro-Israel Dem is and will always be good policy."

Ms Ocasio-Cortez is part of the Left-wing "Squad" of House Democrats, against whom AIPAC spent heavily during the primary season in an attempt to unseat.

It had success with ending the House careers of two members, both of them critics of Israel's conduct of the war in Gaza: Jamaal Bowman of New York and Cori Bush of Missouri.

Mr Bowman retweeted Ms Ocasio-Cortez's original post, claiming in a subsequent message on social media that AIPAC "buys elections, targets Black people, and bullies elected officials at every level of government all across the country".

"The majority of Americans want an arms embargo and an end to genocide," he added.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez has also recently blamed Democrat election defeats on "Obama-era insiders" and claimed that her party spent "more time listening to the donor class than working people".

The New York representative has been approached for comment.