Rep. Ritchie Torres, who has been speaking out against rising antisemitism, including on the nation's college campuses, said he will "not be intimidated" after anti-Israel extremists vandalized his South Bronx office on Christmas Day.
"On Christmas Day, anti-Israel extremists vandalized my Bronx Office with red paint, symbolizing blood," the New York Democrat posted on X, formerly Twitter, Tuesday, along with a paint-covered "doll meant to symbolize Jesus, whom the vandals describe as a 'Palestinian child messiah.'”
Torres added that the "escalation in intimidation and incitement against Members of Congress feels like it is heading in a dangerous direction," but also said that "I, for one, will not be intimidated."
The message echoed a post on Christmas Day from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who defended the Palestinians while drawing comparisons between the killings of civilians in Gaza and Jesus, The New York Post noted.
"In the story of Christmas, Christ was born in modern-day Palestine under the threat of a government engaged in a massacre of innocents," she posted on Instagram. "He was part of a targeted population being indiscriminately killed to protect an unjust leader’s power."
Torres, meanwhile, has been outspoken in favor of providing military aid to Israel as it fights to eliminate Hamas after the Oct. 7 attacks.
According to a recent Wall Street Journal poll, more Democrats are saying they sympathize with the Palestinians' plight than with Israel. Torres, however, has been one of the most outspoken Democrats in favor of providing military assistance to Israel as it fights Hamas.
Further, Torres has been speaking out against antisemitism and displays, including from the Democratic Socialists of America after it blamed the Jewish state for being the "root cause" of a New York City chapter event during which protesters burned Israeli flags and displayed a swastika.
"The DSA, despite the name, is not democratic," Torres said on X at the time. "It’s despicable, detestable, disgraceful, and disgraced. The same can be said of anyone who enables them."
Torres also wrote in an opinion piece for The Post in October that “Something is rotten in the state of America. When the institutional leaders in our country cannot condemn the cold-blooded murder of Israeli children and civilians with moral clarity, one must ask: what kind of society are we becoming?"
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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