At a recent campaign event sponsored by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in Austin, Texas, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (popularly known as AOC) was heckled by pro-Palestinian protesters. In an attempt to defend herself, she said, among other things, “I don’t believe that a child should be in a cage on [America’s] border, and I don’t believe a child should be in a cage in the West Bank.” She did not, however, offer up any evidence of West Bank children being placed in cages. Cortez also claimed that “Palestine is basically a banned word. It’s censored. . . . And we shouldn’t allow people’s humanity to be censored.” Carl Campanille reports on the Jewish community’s response to Cortez’s remarks:

Michael Nussbaum, president of the Queens Jewish Community Council, said that AOC’s inflammatory anti-Israel rhetoric appeals to Jew hatred. “AOC is always asking for the ‘other side’ to understand her positions and that of the DSA and the BDS followers who wish to eliminate Israel from the Middle East map,” he said.

“If you wish to have a real discussion, the Queens Jewish Community Council is willing to engage you in an honest and open conversation,” he added. “We will defend Israel, you will have to defend the indefensible, . . . lies and distortions that spew hate and anti-Semitism.”

He credited her with making an effort recently to have a dialogue with Jewish leaders in the borough.

“But I’m disappointed in the comments she made in Texas. This is not an isolated incident. It’s a continuation,” Nussbaum said. A representative for Ocasio-Cortez issued a statement defending her “cage” remark.

Analyzing the recent direct Iranian attack on Israel, and Israel’s security situation more generally, Michael Oren looks to the 2015 agreement to restrain Iran’s nuclear program. That, and President Biden’s efforts to resurrect the deal after Donald Trump left it, are in his view the source of the current crisis:

Of the original motivations for the deal—blocking Iran’s path to the bomb and transforming Iran into a peaceful nation—neither remained. All Biden was left with was the ability to kick the can down the road and to uphold Barack Obama’s singular foreign-policy achievement.

In order to achieve that result, the administration has repeatedly refused to punish Iran for its malign actions:

Historians will survey this inexplicable record and wonder how the United States not only allowed Iran repeatedly to assault its citizens, soldiers, and allies but consistently rewarded it for doing so. They may well conclude that in a desperate effort to avoid getting dragged into a regional Middle Eastern war, the U.S. might well have precipitated one.

While America’s friends in the Middle East, especially Israel, have every reason to feel grateful for the vital assistance they received in intercepting Iran’s missile and drone onslaught, they might also ask what the U.S. can now do differently to deter Iran from further aggression. . . . Tehran will see this weekend’s direct attack on Israel as a victory—their own—for their ability to continue threatening Israel and destabilizing the Middle East with impunity.

Israel, of course, must respond differently. Our target cannot simply be the Iranian proxies that surround our country and that have waged war on us since October 7, but, as the Saudis call it, “the head of the snake.”