New York Lawmaker Withdraws Support of Candidate Who Supports BDS

By COLlive reporter

Assembly Member Brian Cunningham, who represents New York’s Assembly District 43, has withdrawn his support of a Democratic candidate for Congress after she announced her support of BDS, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel.

Yuh-Line Niou, a progressive assemblywoman from Manhattan, came under fire Monday after she said in an interview with Jewish Insider that she supports BDS, which aims to use economic pressure to force Israel to change its policies toward the Palestinians.

Niou is one of more than a dozen candidates for the open seat in New York’s redrawn 10th District and is backed by the Working Families Party. Elected in 2016, she currently represents New York’s 10th District, which includes Lower Manhattan and the heavily Jewish Brooklyn neighborhoods of Borough Park and Park Slope.

Cunningham, who had endorsed Niou in May, withdrew his support late Monday after her statement.

Cunningham was elected in March to represent the 43rd Assembly district, which includes the heavily Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Crown Heights and the Prospect Lefferts Gardens neighborhood. He was strongly backed by the Crown Heights Jewish community during the election.

Assemblymember Cunningham, who has visited Israel, said in a statement to COLlive.com, “I have traveled to Israel and seen firsthand the realities on the ground. I unequivocally oppose the BDS movement, and all that it stands for. I will not support a candidate that fails to recognize Israel’s right to exist by endorsing a movement that seeks to destroy our democratic ally Israel.

“I am therefore withdrawing my endorsement of Yuh-Line Niou,” he said.

The Jewish Insider article said that in an initial phone conversation, Niou “refrained from explicitly clarifying her own personal stance on the movement,” which has in recent years drawn the support of a handful of leftist House members including Reps. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar.

While she told the Jewish Insider that she supports providing Israel with defensive U.S. military assistance to ensure that the country “can protect itself,” in a follow-up email, Jewish Insider reported, Niou said: “I believe in the right to protest as a fundamental tenet of western democracy, so I do support BDS.”

“People think that the BDS movement is in some way antisemitic, but I don’t think that it is,” she said. “I think that it’s making sure that people can have the right to be able to have free speech.”

Rabbi Yaacov Behrman, founder of the Jewish Future Alliance, said in response to Cunningham’s statement, “We need more leaders like Assemblymember Brian Cunningham – bold, courageous, and unafraid to speak the truth. Crown Heights is proud to be represented by Brian Cunningham.”