A pro-Palestine heckler ripped into AOC at a town hall meeting, leading the crowd to erupt into shouting and backing the woke congresswoman into a corner as she attempted to explain her position on the ever-controversial issue of the Israel-Palestine conflict, which has caused intense division across the political spectrum.
For context, during a town hall meeting in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City, on the night of May 2, 2025, a self-proclaimed “healthcare worker” ripped into AOC in the middle of a presentation, shouting at the representative and asked to know what her response was to the “genocide in Gaza.” In response, AOC attempted to quiet the crowd, which erupted into boos and shouts of “Shame! Shame!” until the heckler was removed from the event.
According to press accounts, the heckler, who was identified by Newsweek as Jennifer Kings, stood up while Ocasio-Cortez was presenting and said, “I’m a healthcare worker, and I want to know what you’re doing about the genocide in Gaza.” Continuing, Kings called AOC a “war criminal,” pointing furiously at her and leading the crowd to erupt in boos. Kings added, “At least with the Republican Party, we know what we are dealing with, you’re a snake.”
Continuing, “Stop the genocide. Do something.” “Shame on you.” Boos and shouts continued from the crowd in response, as Kings shouted, “I’m a nurse,” before pointing and screaming, “Shame on you,” and saying again, “What are you doing about the genocide in Gaza?” AOC, in response, said, “I’m happy to take your question,” as others in the crowd stood up in an attempt to calm Kings down.
Meanwhile, members of the crowd pointed at Kings and said, “Let her speak,” but several town hall attendees escorted Kings out. According to press accounts, after Kings’ removal from the event, Ocasio-Cortez said, “I more than welcome people who disagree or are super pissed off at me for any issue to come, but we have some ground rules here. Please wait for the Q&A because we don’t want to deprive all of our neighbors of the ability to have information and hear them respond to it.”
In addition to disrupting AOC’s town hall meeting, Kings has repeatedly criticized the congresswoman for her perceived inaction in response to the conflict in Gaza, telling her nearly 60,000 Instagram followers, “It took AOC like three hours to condemn the killing of two individuals last night,” referring to the murder of two Israeli embassy staff members outside the Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. on May 21, 2025.
Kings continued, “And according to my calculations, the complete siege on Gaza started March 2, no food, no water, no medicine has been allowed in, and AOC only put out a statement of, like, lukewarm condemnation yesterday.” In the post’s caption, she added, “I condemn the 594 days of industrial-scale mass slaughter by the US NATO Zionist axis of evil.” She went on, “How many Palestinian babies and children have we watched get butchered on live stream over the past 19 months?? Silence is CRIMINAL.”
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In addition, in another video posted on May 16, 2025, Kings pinned a poster that read, “AOC is abetting a genocide in Gaza” outside Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s office, saying, “Shame on every single person, and most especially every single elected public official,l who is not doing EVERYTHING in their power to stop the mass extermination campaign happening in Gaza.”
Watch Kings’ rant:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video