Ocasio Cortez Jewish Roots
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the newly elected firebrand congresswoman, has revealed for the first time that she has Sephardic Jewish heritage.
The 28-year-old Democrat said her distant ancestors fled the Spanish Inquisition to emigrate to Puerto Rico, where her immediate family roots lived until they moved to New York.
“Generations and generations ago, my family consisted of Sephardic Jews,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “So many people practiced Catholism on the exterior but on the interior they continued to practice (Judaism).”
Ocasio Cortez Jewish Roots Pictures
At Hanukkah event with @JFREJNYC in an moving speech, @Ocasio2018 shares that her family were Sephardic Jews who fled to Puerto Rico. “So many of our destinies are tied beyond our understanding” pic.twitter.com/68bjuCFnDD— Taly Krupkin (@TalyKrupkin) December 10, 2018
Alex Ocasio Cortez
It’s believed to be the first time Ocasio-Cortez has publicly mentioned her Sephardic roots. Haaretz first reported the revelation Sunday night.
She didn’t explain why she has apparently never mentioned the issue before. In recent months, she has burst onto the national political scene with a leftist critique of the Democratic establishment and its stands on a variety of issues including Israel and the Palestinians.
Ocasio-Cortez told Haaretz that she didn’t plan to talk about her family history on Sunday, either. “Sometimes I feel the space, I feel the moment,” she explained.
Ocasio Cortez Jewish Roots
Ocasio-Cortez, who pulled off a stunning upset over Democratic powerhouse Joe Crowley in a primary last spring, suggested that her relatives and other Puerto Rican families hid menorahs and other artifacts of Jewish practice in their homes on the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic island.
She used her unusual family history to draw a parable about the polyglot history of Puerto Rico, where many trace their roots to a mix of Spanish colonizers, indigenous native Americans and black slaves.
“So many of our destinies are tied beyond our understanding,” she said.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (/ oʊ ˌ k ɑː s i oʊ k ɔːr ˈ t ɛ z /; Spanish: oˈkasjo koɾˈtes; born October 13, 1989), also known by her initials, AOC, is an American politician serving as the U.S. Representative for New York's 14th congressional district since 2019.
- Published on Conservative Jewish American commentator Ben Shapiro ripped into Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Monday after her comments claiming she has Jewish roots made headlines around the world. Shapiro tweeted, “1.
- Not Jews in the abstract sense. Democrat politicians can, like Sen. Cory Booker, keep a Hebrew copy of the Bible in their office, they can, like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, claim Jewish roots, or, like Obama, claim to be Jewish in some vague sense of values.
- Incoming Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced at a Hanukkah get-together in Queens that part of her family is descended from Sephardic Jews who fled to Puerto Rico during the Spanish Inquisition, The Jerusalem Post reported on Monday.