Andrew Yang continues criticism of BDS movement
The New York City mayoral candidate has made headlines for his opposition to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, which opposes Israel's policies toward the Palestinians with a variety of boycotts.
New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang took aim at the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement in an interview on Friday.
Yang said the movement, which supports a variety of boycotts of Israel over its treatment of the Palestinians, goes beyond reasonable criticism of the Israeli government.
“BDS specifically as an organization, as a movement has refused to disavow extremist elements that have essentially said Israel does not have a right to exist,” said Yang on the progressive show Secular Talk. “So that’s quite extreme."
The BDS movement says it supports pressuring Israel to end the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and allowing Palestinian refugees from the 1948 Arab-Israeli war to return to Israel. To this end, BDS supports “withdrawing support from Israel’s apartheid regime,” which it describes as “complicit Israeli sporting, cultural and academic institutions.” BDS also urges banks, universities and other entities to withdraw investments from the state of Israel. It additionally calls for suspending Israel from international forums, including United Nations bodies, according to the Palestinian BDS National Committee.
