Andrew Yang Steps In It | Rev. J. Mark Davidson

Andrew Yang, former Democratic presidential candidate, newly-announced New York City mayoral candidate, thought it important to let the large Jewish community in the Big Apple know what to expect from him on issues near and dear to their heart. His article in Forward, "My Vision for New York City's Jewish Community", raised quite the stink. 

The stench arose from these lines: "A Yang administration will push back against the BDS movement, which singles out Israel for unfair economic punishment. Not only is BDS rooted in antisemitic thought and history, hearkening back to fascist boycotts of Jewish businesses, it's also a direct shot at New York City's economy. Strong ties with Israel are essential for a global city such as ours, which boasts the highest Jewish population in the world outside of Israel. Our economy is struggling, and we should be looking for ways to bring back small businesses, not stop commerce."

Where to start with an article that "stepped in it" in so many places? First, this is political pandering to the Jewish establishment. Yang bowed to the discredited claim that the BDS movement is antisemitic. It garnered the predictable applause from Jewish establishment groups such as the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. But several media critics, such as Marc Lamont Hill, Yousef Munayyer, Amy Spitalnick, and Alex Kane of Jewish Currents, blasted Yang for labeling the BDS movement fascist. We face very real threats from the rise of White nationalism and fascism in this country. We've witnessed Neo-Nazis shoot Black Lives Matter protesters, murder synagogue worshippers, and storm the Capitol. Lumping the BDS movement in with such vile company is indefensible and dangerous. 

It is a totally baseless historical comparison. The Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses was based on the fascist ideology of Jew-hatred and the scapegoating of Jews for all of Germany's woes. What Yang is invoking is gangs of storm troopers destroying 7,000 Jewish businesses, setting fire to more than 900 synagogues, 91 Jews killed, and a statement from Goebbels saying, "we weep not one tear for them." In sharp contrast, the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement is a principled, nonviolent effort, using pinpoint economic leverage, to pressure Israel to meet its obligations under international law - withdrawal from the occupied territories and the dismantling of the Wall, equal rights for Palestinian citizens within Israel, and reparative justice for Palestinian refugees. The BDS movement was inspired by the successful international boycott of the apartheid regime in South Africa, and a long line of noble human rights struggles – Gandhi fighting for Indian independence from Great Britain, and the civil rights struggle in the U.S. Nothing about any of these boycotts was fascist or motivated by hate, and neither is there anything about the BDS movement that is fascist or antisemitic. 

Yang repeats the canard that the BDS movement "singles out Israel for economic punishment." Not so. Are the Palestinians supposed to seek redress for their oppression by calling for a boycott of other human rights violators such as Burma, China, or North Korea? How exactly would that help? Where else should they address their complaint but against the country that is singularly responsible for their oppression? 

Yang's article comes across as tone-deaf and woefully uninformed toward American Jews. He overlooks the fact that there is no such thing as "the Jewish vote;" that there are a significant number of American Jews who support BDS because they see it as a responsible strategy for challenging Israel's systematic human rights violations, which they deplore. To suggest that Jews as a group all vote the same way is, in itself, to engage in racist stereotyping and antisemitic tropes. 

His article is also disconnected from Palestinian reality. If Andrew Yang is serious about representing all the people of New York City, he would be well-advised to spend some time talking to Palestinians and their supporters, and learning about their experiences and hopes for the future. As Yang himself conceded, "we can do a better job of fostering empathy and understanding across race, religion, and ethnicity." Indeed, Mr. Yang.

There are legitimate reasons to question BDS as a tactic, or to wonder whether it should be limited to settlement products or be extended to all Israeli institutions that perpetuate the domination of the Palestinian people. But smearing BDS as antisemitic and attempting to root it in the violence and hatred of Nazism is appalling.