Yang Rebuked By Astoria Residents, AOC For Pro-Israel Tweet

ASTORIA, QUEENS — Mayoral hopeful Andrew Yang was rebuked by Astoria residents, as well as a local community group and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for writing a pro-Israel tweet Monday night, hours after Israeli police stormed the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, setting off a series of fatal rockets and airstrikes between Hamas and Israel, respectively, reported NY1.

“I'm standing with the people of Israel who are coming under bombardment attacks, and condemn the Hamas terrorists,” wrote Yang, whose tweet garnered praise from conservatives by the likes of Donald Trump Jr., Ted Cruz, and Stephan Miller. Yang said he “certainly would never ask for or want their support,” reported NY1.

Yang’s tweet comes after weeks of violence between Israeli police and far-right-wing activists and Palestinian protesters, leading up to the planned eviction of Palestinian families from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. As of late Wednesday afternoon the BBC reported that airstrikes have killed 65 Palestinians, including 16 children, and six Israelis, including three women and a child according to an AP News report.

The day after Yang took to Twitter in support of Israel, a person approached him in Astoria Park. “What do you have to say about your tweet? Directly to New Yorkers, right now?" she asked in an incident caught on video by NY1.

"It’s heartbreaking to all of us what’s happening in the Middle East," Yang said. “People are dying; civilians are dying,” he added.

"Do you condemn Israel for that? Do you condemn Israel for their unjust acts against innocent Palestinians?” asked another person. A member of Yang’s campaign then said that the candidate, who did not respond, had to leave.

“That’s why you don’t have my vote, and you don’t have the vote of a lot of New Yorkers,” said the person who had originally stopped him.

On Tuesday, Yang had also been scheduled to hand out groceries ahead of Eid, the conclusion of the Ramadan fast, with the Astoria Welfare Society (AWS), but was uninvited by organizers, who told Patch they rescinded their invitation because of his tweet about Israel.

“We have nothing against him, we are against his words,” Md Jabed Uddin, the general secretary of AWS told Patch.

“When he put out this tweet against Palestinians everybody started calling me, community leaders, Muslims, other people too, because they didn’t like what he tweeted,” Uddin explained, adding he feared including Yang at the Eid distribution could attract protests, and he didn’t “want to mess up my 400 family distribution here because of one person.”

Later in the day, U.S. Rep Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who represents part of Astoria, also took to Twitter about the situation in Astoria, writing: “Utterly shameful for Yang to try to show up to an Eid event after sending out a chest-thumping statement of support for a strike killing 9 children, especially after his silence as Al-Aqsa was attacked. But then to try that in Astoria? During Ramadan?! They will let you know.”

This tweet is not the first time that Yang has attracted criticism — including from people in Queens — for his stances on Israel.

In April, hundreds of progressive Asian American community members, including two City Council candidates in Queens, signed on to a public letter and list of Asian New Yorkers opposing Yang’s bid for mayor.

The letter outlines eight areas of concern from Yang's political platform, including his “harmful stances on BDS,” the movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel. The letter specifically points to an opinion piece Yang authored in The Forward, where he compared BDS to “fascist boycotts of Jewish businesses.”

“To conflate valid criticism and resistance against the actions of the Israeli state with antisemitism is to delegitimize the BDS movement, stifle dissent, and to ensure that the occupation of Palestine continues while alienating and ignoring the concerns of thousands of Palestinian New Yorkers,” states the letter.

On Wednesday morning, Yang took to Twitter again. "I spoke with a group of volunteers for the campaign yesterday," he begins, adding that after some conversations, he believes that his original tweet was "overly simplistic" and "failed to acknowledge the pain and suffering on both sides."

"I mourn for every Palestinian life taken before its time as I do for every Israeli," he wrote, concluding with a universalist message: "I join with millions around the world in praying that the current situation be resolved as quickly as possible, peacefully and with minimal suffering."