Journal-January 25, 2021 (Andrew Yang)

1.      Andrew Yang is running for mayor of New York City.  He will be remembered for his smooth performance during the Democratic presidential primary, when he projected Coolness and Competence.  Judging by a recent statement of his published in the Jewish Forward, the third of his defining traits will henceforth be ethnic Panderer.  (CCP also stands for Chinese Communist Party, but let’s not go there.)

2.     Yang’s statement reads:

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.

3.     Yang exudes business savvy; he’s a younger, woke version of former NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg.  I doubt he knows much about the Israel-Palestine conflict.  His press secretary just threw in boilerplate churned out by Israeli propagandists, as Yang targeted two strategic Jewish constituencies in New York: alte kaker* Jewish billionaires on the Upper East Side and the orthodox Jewish community, both of which are diehard supporters of the State of Israel.  Yang’s modus operandi is tried and tested: Whenever possible, drag in BDS and The Holocaust. 

4.     BDS does not pose a threat to Israel; it never has.  Israel latched onto BDS to discredit legitimate condemnation of Israeli policy.  It is repeatedly alleged that BDS refuses to recognize Israel; that, therefore, BDS wants to destroy Israel; that, therefore, BDS is anti-Semitic; that lurking behind all criticism of Israel is BDS; that, therefore, all criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic; that only a flea’s hop separates anti-Semitism from The Holocaust; that, therefore, opposing criticism of Israel is opposing Nazism.  It will be noticed that Yang manages to press all the hot buttons in his compressed statement.

5.     I will not comment on BDS, as it’s as politically relevant as the Maoist sect to which I belonged in my youth.  However, several points of principle do warrant attention. 

6.     Israel’s premier human rights organization, B’Tselem, recently issued a position paper entitled, A regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea: This is apartheid.  This paper documents the intricate web of Israeli laws and practices that have stripped Palestinians of basic human rights.  It describes the regime Israel has established as one of “Jewish supremacy.”

7.      Andrew Yang must be asked: Do you support a regime anchored in Jewish supremacy?

8.     In 1882, the U.S. passed the Chinese Exclusion Act curbing Chinese immigration in order to preserve white supremacy.  The B’Tselem paper states that a key pillar of Jewish supremacy in Israel is that, whereas “any Jew in the world and his or her children, grandchildren and spouses are entitled to immigrate to Israel at any time and receive Israeli citizenship,” on the contrary, “Palestinians living in other countries cannot immigrate to the area between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, even if they, their parents or their grandparents were born and lived there.”

9.     Andrew Yang must be asked: Do you support the Palestinian Exclusion Act?

10.  Andrew Yang’s statement deplores the “fascist boycotts of Jewish business.” Indeed, right after seizing power, the Nazis enacted discriminatory legislation targeting Jews—e.g., a boycott of Jewish-owned businesses. Yang might also have mentioned that the international Jewish community in response called for a counter-boycott of Nazi Germany.  The B’Tselem position paper states that a key pillar of Israel’s Jewish supremacist regime is “discriminatory laws”—e.g., it has expropriated “vast tracts of Palestinian-owned land” and “severely restricts construction and development in the little remaining land in Palestinian communities.”

11.   Andrew Yang must be asked: If it was legitimate to call for the boycott of a regime that enacted Aryan-supremacist legislation targeting Jews, why is it illegitimate to call for the boycott of a regime that has enacted Jewish-supremacist legislation targeting Palestinians?

12.   It is time for a clean break, a fresh start in New York.  For decades, elected officials in my city have pandered to supporters of Jewish supremacy in Israel.  During Israel’s murderous assault on Gaza in 2014 (Operation Protective Edge), the revolting White/Jewish supremacist mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, rushed to Israel to rally support for the Israeli carnage.  This must stop.  A red line must be drawn. Either Andrew Yang rescinds his statement, or he won’t get the support of New Yorkers disgusted by decades of racist pandering. 

*Yiddish for “old fart” or “old geezer.”