A Congressional candidate representing parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn has endorsed the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions economic war against Israel in her platform, the Jewish Insider reports.
Candidate Yuh-Line Niou, 38, is a progressive state Assembly member who represents the Lower East Side and Chinatown.
She is now also a candidate in the upcoming August 23 primary to represent the redrawn 10th Congressional district that includes brownstone sections of Brooklyn, the heavily Asian neighborhood of Sunset Park and parts of heavily Orthodox Jewish Borough Park, as well as downtown Manhattan.
And she supports the international anti-Israel BDS campaign, although she was somewhat more circumspect about her views in a phone call with JI shortly before she sent her email on Friday afternoon.
“I believe in the right to protest as a fundamental tenet of western democracy, so I do support BDS,” she said in an email response to the Jewish Insider, adding that she believes “it’s really about our ability to have freedom of speech.”
(She also supports the Green New Deal, universal single-payer healthcare and the abolition of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.)
Niou faces a fight for the seat with six other leading Democrats in her race for the seat, including former Mayor Bill de Blasio, City Council member Carlina Rivera, Congress member Mondaire Jones (D-NY), state Assembly member Jo Anne Simon, former Congress member Liz Holtzman (D-NY) and attorney Dan Goldman.
