AOC politicizes Jesus' birth to push her narrative about Israel-Hamas war — but facts get in the way

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sparked backlash on Christmas after politicizing the Christian holiday for her progressive agenda.

On Christmas Eve, the New York Democrat tried to compare the story of Jesus' birth to the plight of modern-day Palestinians, drawing false equivalencies to advance her narrative about the Israel-Hamas war.

Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Instagram:

In the story of Christmas, Christ was born in modern-day Palestine under the threat of a government engaged in a massacre of innocents. He was part of a targeted population being indiscriminately killed to protect an unjust leader’s power. Mary and Joseph, displaced by violence and forced to flee, became refugees in Egypt with a newborn waiting to one day return home. Thousands of years later, right-wing forces are violently occupying Bethlehem as similar stories unfold for today’s Palestinians, so much so that the Christian community in Bethlehem has canceled this year’s Christmas Eve celebrations out of both safety and respect.

There are numerous problems with Ocasio-Cortez's post.

First, mapping a modern geo-political conflict onto ancient history as if they are the same thing is exceptionally bad comparative methodology.

Second, it's debatable whether Mary and Joseph were "displaced by violence" as Ocasio-Cortez claimed. According to Matthew 2, Joseph received instructions to go to Egypt before King Herod issued the decree to kill young boys in Bethlehem. The narrative is clear: An angel of the Lord prompted Jesus' family to go to Egypt in accordance with prophecy and to protect Jesus from forthcoming violence.

Third, it's unclear if Jesus and his family were "refugees" in Egypt because the family fled from one Roman province to another. This fact alone fails to meet the United Nation's definition of "refugee."

Fourth, Ocasio-Cortez was presumably referring to Israel when she cited the "right-wing forces" that are "violently occupying Bethlehem." But since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1995, the Palestinian National Authority — not Israel — has controlled Bethlehem.

The post, moreover, was widely condemned as anti-Jewish.

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