A Bronx House Democrat ripped a socialist group as “despicable,” after it gave a half-hearted apology for promoting a virulent pro-Palestinian rally in Manhattan last weekend.
Rep. Ritchie Torres noted that the Democratic Socialists of America’s New York City chapter’s delayed mea culpa Tuesday for the rally couldn’t “even be bothered to mention, much less condemn, Hamas and its mass murder of Jews,” in a Wednesday X post.
“It refers vaguely to ‘loved ones in harm’s way.’ It projects moral outrage only when blaming Israel as the ‘root cause’ of the violence,” Torres said of the statement.
“The DSA, despite the name, is not democratic. It’s despicable, detestable, disgraceful, and disgraced. The same can be said of anyone who enables them.”
The widely criticized demonstration came in the immediate aftermath of the brutal executions of more than 1,000 Israelis and the kidnapping of at least 100 people, including babies, women and children.
The DSA issues an apology that fails to apologize and a clarification that clarifies nothing but its own absurdity. The statement can’t even be bothered to mention, much less condemn, Hamas and its mass murder of Jews. It refers vaguely to “loved ones in harm’s way.” It… pic.twitter.com/bNigA4mL7f
It featured the burning of an Israeli flag and the taunting of counter protestors with at least one image of a swastika. Organizers had encouraged participants to wear masks, apparently so they could not be identified by authorities.
The rally was immediately ripped by Democrats Gov Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams as “abhorrent” and “hateful,” however the vast majority of DSA-linked lawmakers from the city refused to comment on it the next day, with several flacks telling The Post that their bosses were too busy observing Italian Heritage Day/Indigenous Peoples Day to issue a statement.
Eventually, damage control statements about the rally from DSA-linked lawmakers like Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman began to trickle in, many of them coming two days after the rally and more than 24 hours after The Post had reached out for comment.
“On Saturday, in anticipation of escalatory violence to come, we tweeted a promotion of a rally in solidarity with the people of Palestine,” the NYC-DSA statement read, adding it unequivocally condemns “all hatred and the killing of all civilians.”
“We understand why many, including our allies, were shocked by the timing and the tone of this message in a moment of profound fear and grief. We are sorry for the confusion our post caused and for not making our values explicit.”
Torres was among the Democrats who blasted the rally on Sunday, claiming the DSA was “calling for the destruction of the Jewish State amid the largest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.”
“The DSA held a hate rally, chanting: ‘from the River to the Sea,’ which is code for wiping Israel from the face of the earth. Let that sink in,” he wrote on X.
Torres was among the Democrats who blasted the rally on Sunday, claiming the DSA was “calling for the destruction of the Jewish State amid the largest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.”