Verisimilitude

Green Party congressional candidate Jason Call, with a Palestine flag in his username, commented "In other “don’t threaten me with a good time” news…"

Self-identified antifascist Dean M. posted an antizionist meme quoting Holocaust survivor Dr. Hajo Mayer saying "An anti-Semite used to be a person who disliked Jews. Now it is a person who Jews dislike." By implication, he means that calling Galindo antisemitic is an overreaction coming solely from corrupt Jews trying to silence her bold approach to combating Zionist influence.

Self-identified leftist (libertarian communist) Philadelphian Socialist Guy posted an energetic Chad meme implying complete support for Galindo.

Soon after the news broke about Maureen Galindo, further investigation revealed that she had been funded by Republican sources, presumably to elevate a fringe Democrat easier to defeat or who would make the party look bad. This does not erase the problem of people defending her, but it does add context. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made a statement.

Quoting Karlis' tweet, Ocasio-Cortez unequivocally condemned Galindo and stated that she had been funded by Republicans, saying the following:

This is absolutely disgusting. This bigoted garbage and antisemitism should be nowhere near our politics. If you’re in TX-35, vote for @/johnnygarciatx. And the donors behind the Republican super PAC funding her should be exposed.

This is the right response, condemning Galindo and making it clear that she does not represent the ideology of the Democratic Party. However, the responses to her show how many, many antizionist leftists think Galindo has a point and should not be condemned for her extreme views. There is a similar mix of normal people praising her for condemning Galindo, Nazis condemning her for condemning Galindo, and leftists condemning her for condemning Galindo with a disproportionate representation of the latter.

American Communist Party executive chairman Haz Al-Din calls her "really such a disgusting Zionist bitch." By implication, he fully supports Galindo. If AOC counts as a Zionist for denouncing her, then the implication is that she and anyone else who denounces Galindo should also be rounded up. Al-Din is an associate of Jackson Hinkle, a prominent antizionist leftist often characterized as Nazi-adjacent. Their politics are best described as complicated, sort of right-wing but also tankie.

Self-identified socialist Nick Cruse says, "AOC [is] getting offended on behalf of Zionists because she is one", implying similarly.

Israel Exposed, an antizionist leftist account dedicated to collecting evidence of Israeli war crimes, suggests that Israeli agents are making her condemn Galindo: "AOC has always been under the Israeli lobby, which is why she is trying to conflate Zionism with Judeism. Textbook Israeli tactic"

Numerous other commenters make the same point that by conflating Zionists with Jews, AOC is being antisemitic and imply that because only Zionists would be rounded up, it is a good idea. This is a bit of rhetorical sleight of hand because 90% of Jews identify as Zionists (under the original definition of wanting settlements in their ancestral homeland, no further politics necessarily implied), so most Jews in America would be rounded up and sent to camps. If merely objecting to the idea makes one a Zionist, as is generally implied, then all Jews and their allies will be sent to camps. Regardless of the Jewish part, there should be an underlying principle that we don't send people to camps for having bad politics that is not being applied here.

Various commenters object to AOC endorsing Johnny Garcia, who was the main opposition to Galindo. He has since won and blocked Galindo from rising to power until the runoff election, but it was uncertain at the time. He has been broadly considered "pro-Israel" as a moderate Democrat coalition-builder type, at one point saying Israel is the U.S.'s best ally in the middle east and he would not support an arms embargo. Regardless of if he seems like the best candidate in a perfect world, AOC endorsing him over the "put Zionists in camps" candidate is a no-brainer to people who don't want Nazis in power. As far as I can tell, he hasn't commented one way or the other as to whether he thinks Israel is or was committing genocide. Commenters offended by AOC endorsing a pro-Israel candidate attacked her for such, implying that Galindo would be preferable and projecting what they think his views on genocide are to make him seem worse than he is.

Extremely popular leftist account Zei Squirrel posted a condemnation of AOC supporting Zionist politics through endorsement of Garcia with the barest acknowledgement that Galindo might also be bad:

let's say the other person in this primary is all you and the rest of the liberal media and political class say she is, why the fuck are you endorsing an open and proud genocidal Zionist, someone who is funded by the lobby for the regime you pretend to believe is committing genocide? Oh right, it's because you don't actually believe that. It's a fraud. It's a lie that you pretend to believe because you know your own base would get too mad at you if you openly say you're a liberal Zionist puppet of the J-Street Matt Duss Israel lobby.

She (I'm assuming because of the female squirrel avatar) also posted a conspiracy theory video collecting supposed evidence AOC is secretly a Zionist, containing items such as headlines about her meeting with Jewish leaders. No real condemnation of the internment camp thing. As you can see, she suggests Garcia is an "open and proud genocidal Zionist," which is an extrapolation of wanting to build coalitions with Zionists to actively promoting genocide as a Zionist. By implication, anyone who wants to work with Zionists to coexist would reasonably be put in camps, which she does not condemn.

Meanwhile, user futurebrain, who identifies with "Dark Marxism-Leninism," offers a similar condemnation of AOC endorsing Garcia but claims that he denies genocide, a significant contradiction of Zei Squirrel's assertion that he proudly supports genocide but because both are leftist condemnations of AOC supporting Garcia for supposedly being a Zionist, this creates the illusion of consensus where they appear to be in agreement while actually saying two different things. futurebrain also neglects to condemn Galindo, implying that Zionists should be sent to camps and that AOC and Garcia should be among them.

Multiple commenters suggest that by AOC condemning Galindo wanting to put pedophiles in camps, AOC is morally equivalent to a Jeffery Epstein type and imply a Zionist pedophile conspiracy like that alleged by Galindo. That is QAnon bullshit and, yes, antisemitic, stemming from blood libel and various other antisemitic conspiracy theories. Also, Project 2025 states that transgender people should be genocided by labeling them as people who sexually abuse children, sending them to prison, making it legal to execute prisoners who are there solely for sexually abusing children, and then following through and executing them. Agreeing with Galindo that pedophiles should be sent to internment camps and castrated just because you don't like pedophiles opens the door for trans people, queer people in general, and any political opponent to receive the same fate. The Nazis did as much themselves.

User Tiberius, who has a Free Palestine graffiti thread pinned and says he stands "In pursuit of the liberation of all people," condemns AOC for denouncing Galindo specifically because Galindo supports "stamping out genocidal sentiment" and suggests AOC is morally repugnant for defending pedophiles. He comes out in firm support for putting Zionists in internment camps (and possibly killing them?), ironically characterizing what amounts to genocidal actions against American Jews as a moral obligation to eliminate "genocidal sentiment":

Defending genocidal Zionists again and *checks notes* pedophiles, huh? Interesting hill to keep dying on. Why are you more outraged over the notion of stamping out genocidal sentiment than you are of that genocidal sentiment existing in the first place? Garbage politician.

User Purity test enforcer, with a Palestine flag in their username, denounces AOC for making a statement against what they characterize as a joke instead of the San Diego mosque shooting: "Not a word about the Mosque shooting, but god forbid anyone make a joke about putting genociders in internment camps."

These are not mutually exclusive problems, but the user characterizes them as representing opposing sides, where saying Zionists should not be put in internment camps is Islamophobic if not followed up with some kind of statement that Muslims shouldn't be attacked either. Galindo has not claimed to have been joking and has doubled down that she intends to put Zionists in the camps, merely emphasizing that she doesn't mean all Jews, only Zionists. Dismissing it as merely an edgy joke is a MAGA style move to avoid accountability for horrific statements. Also, they imply that even though it is just a joke, it is morally just to joke about it, like it would be a good idea if anyone were serious.

Christian influencer Ana Escobar, who has "Free Palestine" in her profile, makes a similar suggestion that denouncing someone who wants to put Zionists in internment camps is mutually exclusive with supporting activists demonstrating against Israel, asking "Why don't you denounce this instead" and posting a screenshot of Itamar Ben-Gvir cruelly mocking the detained and humiliated crew of the Gaza flotilla. She frames it as either an Israeli abuse of power gets denounced or the idea of putting Zionists in camps gets denounced and, as the Israeli abuse of power is more significant, it is actively harmful to denounce the idea of putting Zionists in camps. Perhaps, even, that it would be a good thing to put Zionists in camps, conflating American Zionists with an Israeli politician halfway around the world.

User jaybeware, who co-hosts leftist podcast Millennials Are Killing Capitalism, rather overtly indicates that he thinks this camp would be a good thing and that AOC would and should be interred there, "You're just (understandably) afraid you'd end up in the camp for your role in facilitating the Zionist's genocide"

It just goes on and on, and that's just in direct response to AOC's tweet. Many leftists have quote-tweeted her to provide similar commentary. A few examples:

Popular German-Palestinian-American filmmaker and feminist Lexi Alexander sneers at people who like AOC, saying, "your queen is offended on behalf of zionists and pedophiles"

Popular leftist user Nathaniel (AllEyezonMon) counters AOC's condemnation of Galindo by emphasizing that "she said zionists", implying that it's a moral obligation to put Zionists (90% of American Jews) in camps.

Popular left antizionist user Johnny Graz complains about AOC not addressing Islamophobia instead, treating it as mutually exclusive, and uses the loosely antisemitic term "Epstein class," alluding to the Jewish pedophile conspiracy theory:

Politicians say far worse every day about Muslims - a religion, not an ideology like Zionism - and AOC stays silent. She's always been stealth Epstein class.

As far as I know, no one besides Donald Trump has advocated for putting Muslims in camps, and he was heavily criticized for it by mainstream Democrats. Ted Cruz once said police should patrol in Muslim neighborhoods and was also criticized for it. Also, Galindo didn't say that the ideology of Zionism should be sent to an internment camp, she said American Zionists, the people that make up the majority of American Jews.

Each of these quote tweets comes with comments in response from leftists repeating their support of the idea that Galindo is in the right and AOC is wrong. Going through them thread by thread would be a hassle, but you get the gist.

What is reiterated over and over is that it's perfectly reasonable to put Zionists in camps, that AOC is obfuscating that only Zionists will be put in camps, so it's okay. That AOC is actually pro-camps and is lying to get Jewish funding for a future presidential campaign. Or, conversely, that AOC has no agency to act against a Jewish conspiracy secretly calling the shots. Very often, the point is made that it's a good idea to send Zionists to camps and that AOC should be sent there for supporting Zionism. This is the Nazi behavior I was referencing in my initial post.