New York City Mayoral elect Zohran Mamdani previously called for the boycott of Cornell Tech over its public-private partnership with Technion — Israel Institute of Technology not long after he won a seat in the New York State Assembly in 2020.
“If you were to look at the lens of [the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement] and how it applies here in New York City, you would say that Cornell-Technion is something you would be talking about,” Mamdani reportedly said on the podcast, according the The New York Post.
As Mayor-elect, Mamdani was asked by the Roosevelt Islander at a press conference whether he “currently support[s] a boycott of Cornell Tech [or if] has he ever supported a boycott [of Cornell Tech].” While Mamdani did not explicitly say he would no longer boycott Cornell Tech, he did not think the partnership was out of compliance with international law.
“Wherever the [Eric] Adams administration and previous administrations have taken us out of compliance with international law, we’ll return the city back into that compliance,” Mamdani said. Upon further questioning from the reporter, Mamdani elaborated that he does not “think that [Cornell Tech] applies to what the Adam’s administration’s done,” appearing to say that he does not support a boycott of Cornell Tech
When asked if Cornell has communicated with Mamdani or if they plan to engage with the Mamdani administration, a University spokesperson did not respond to the question. Instead, the spokesperson wrote that “the enormous success of this academic collaboration [between Cornell University and Technion – Israel Institute of Technology] proves that universities can be powerful economic engines as well and preserve New York City’s status as a global technology leader.”
The spokesperson also did not directly respond to questions about whether Cornell Tech is directly involved with the IDF, given its partnership with Technion — Israel Institute of Technology, which is tied to the organization via the Advanced Defense Research Institute and the Center for Security Science & Technology.
Yes, he did.
Conflating two subjects by the reporter is not backtracking by the interviewee.
You're the one conflating Mamdani refusing to answer the question with him not backtracking. There's no plausible deniability. Mamdani knows very well what he said.