NYC mayoral candidate Andrew Yang reiterated his opposition to the BDS movement in a recent talk show interview.
Yang had previously said his administration would “push back against the BDS movement.”
He wrote in an op-ed that BDS “singles out Israel for unfair economic punishment.” And also that “not only is BDS rooted in anti-Semitic thought and history, harkening back to fascist boycotts of Jewish businesses, it’s also a direct shot at New York City’s economy.”
Appearing as a guest on progressive Youtube show, Secular Talk, one of the hosts several times stated she was upset over his opposition to BDS and pressed him on his stance.
Yang stood his ground on the issue. “BDS is a very different thing that criticism of let’s say the Netanyahu administration. Or even of some of Israel’s policies,” he said.
He aded, “BDS as a movement has refused to disavow extremist elements that have frankly declared that Israel does not even have a right to exist. So that’s quite extreme. It’s very different than… people having a political point of view on Israel or an administration or its policies.”
Refusing to take the bait of the other host, who was trying to use semantics – as well as the false argument that BDS does not support a boycott of all of the Jewish State – to convince Yang to change his position, Yang reiterated his opposition to BDS and added that he’s on the record supporting a two-state solution, which he referred to as a “fairly mainstream perspective.”
When one of the hosts began to accuse him of only opposing BDS to “pander” to New York City’s Jewish voters, Yang again pushed back.
“New York City is home to more Jews than any place outside of Israel. It’s a very serious (issue) for the global Jewish community and it’s something I would take very seriously as mayor,” he said.
He also spoke of the longstanding close cultural and economic ties between the city and Israel.
Yang announced on January 13, 2021 his candidacy for mayor of New York City. The entrepreneur previously ran for president in 2020.