On her Instagram account, AOC wrote: "In the story of Christmas, Christ was born in modern-day Palestine under the threat of a government engaged in a massacre of innocents" – clearly comparing the plight of the infant Jesus with that of Palestinian children.
She continued: "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" – which, she argued, caused the Christian community there to cancel Christmas Eve celebrations.
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (right), an ordained Southern Baptist pastor, was having none of it. "Is she not aware that the whole term 'Palestinian' meant 'Jewish people' until 1962, when Yasser Arafat coopted the term and created a nation and made up a people and called them the Palestinians, who previously were Jordanian?"
He noted that Bethlehem used to be majority Christian – but now is run by radicalized Muslims.
"The Christians were pretty much burned out and shut down by the radical Muslims who took it over back during the intifada," said Huckabee.
In the same social media post, AOC also stated: "The entire story of Christmas and Christ himself is about standing with the poor and powerless, the marginalized and maligned, the refugees and immigrants, the outcast and misunderstood, without exception."
Huckabee says the New York Democrat should stick to something she knows – "like bartending. Because for gosh sake, she has no clue about the history of the Middle East."
Nor, clearly, the purpose for which Christ was born that holy night.
