Chris Cuomo Fact Checks AOC in Relation to Israeli Pager Attack

NewsNation host Chris Cuomo criticized Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York for her social media comments criticizing Israel’s use of exploding pagers to attack Hezbollah terrorists.

Israel carried out operations Tuesday targeting senior Hezbollah officials using pagers rigged with explosives, then detonated walkie-talkies used by the Iranian-backed radical Islamist terror group on Wednesday. Cuomo, who has feuded with Ocasio-Cortez on social media over her criticism of the Israeli operation, said she wrongly accused Israel of a “war crime” on air Friday night.

“She (Ocasio-Cortez) started by accusing Israel of a war crime for what they did to Hezbollah members in Beirut, and then, in asking for an investigation, she accused them of a war crime, she asked for an investigation,” Cuomo said. “Then she decided to be honest and show that her claim that the exploding pagers were a ‘clear’ violation of U.S. policy.”

“This attack clearly and unequivocally violates international humanitarian law, undermines U.S. efforts to prevent a broader conflict,” Cuomo continued, quoting the congresswoman’s tweet. “And then she said she was violating U.S. policy. Sure. Israel is not part of the United States, so they do not follow our laws or principles. Second, if the representative was implying through this comparison that the United States should not therefore support Israel, good luck. And here’s what really bothers me about this salvo: She’s wrong. That’s why she doesn’t accuse and then look for a crime.”

TO WATCH:

Cuomo then noted that Ocasio-Cortez quoted the Department of Defense manual on the laws of war but added additional information.

“Here’s the part she left out, oddly enough, the section after the one she quoted: ‘The use of mines, booby traps, and other devices is subject to the same principles and rules that govern the use of other weapons to conduct attacks,’” Cuomo read from the manual. “The rules include a prohibition on the indiscriminate use of mines, booby traps, and other devices. Indiscriminate. What does that mean? It means that every reasonable precaution must be taken to protect civilians from the effects of mines, booby traps, and other devices, taking into account all the circumstances applicable at the time, including humanitarian and military considerations.”

“The military manual even has an example of when booby traps are not prohibited. It would not be prohibited to improvise booby traps, for example, to delay an enemy advance. What does that mean? It could mean a lot of things,” Cuomo said. “One is certainly a group of bloodthirsty terrorists coming from you. So did she not read that part because she’s not a lawyer, or she’s not thorough, or she was deliberately not trying to be fair? One is misconduct, not doing your job well. The other is malfeasance, doing it badly on purpose.”

Cuomo also criticized reports of vandalism at Ocasio-Cortez’s office, but said Ocasio-Cortez should have condemned threats against Republican Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna of Florida or the assassination attempts on former President Donald Trump.

“She had nothing to say about her colleague Anna Paulina Luna, when exactly this happened to her, and she said nothing about the assassination attempts on former President Trump,” Cuomo said. “So what do we know? She clearly doesn’t value her opponents as people as she does herself.”

Featured Image: Screenshot/Rumble/NewsNation

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