Some Jews Don’t Want Ocasio-Cortez, Just Like With Paul Ryan
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Image by Getty Images
At a Hanukkah party Sunday evening, Ocasio-Cortez shared in a speech that Puerto Ricans can have descendants from several ethnicities, including Jewish refugees, Spanish colonizers and indigenous peoples. But as when outgoing Speaker of the House Paul Ryan discovered Jewish ancestry, politics determined whether or not AOC got a warm Jewish welcome.
No. You don’t get to co-opt sephardi tradition for your political game. There is nothing jewish about you, so you are not a jew. At the very most, your family is Anusim, and I’d like to see a dna test on that.
Also, you’re not even working class. https://t.co/8FfYld58pU
— JudeaPride.Com (@JudeaPride) December 10, 2018
Definitely not Jewish…
— Drake Pipkin™ (@drakepipkin) December 10, 2018
Is @Ocasio2018 doing a Senator Warren?
— Hank Miiller (@miiller) December 10, 2018
The situation could read to some like the day in August when House Speaker Paul Ryan enthusiastically revealed he is 3% Ashkenazi Jewish, with eastern European roots.
“I’m sorry but no, we don’t want him,” tweeted Ayelet Waldman, an Israeli-American novelist and essayist.
Another tweeted: “As if the Jewish people people haven’t suffered enough.”
Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
- Alyssa Katz, Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
