Jewish groups, allies demand CUNY Law lose funding after student's 'vile' anti-Israel commencement speech
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Pro-Israel groups and Jewish allies are calling for the City University of New York's (CUNY) public law school to lose its funding after a graduating student accused Israel of "indiscriminately raining bullets and bombs" on Palestinians during her commencement speech. She also claimed laws are "white supremacy" and attacked the "fascist" NYPD and U. S. military.
Fatima Mousa Mohammed, who was selected by the 2023 class to speak at the May 12 CUNY Law ceremony, accused Israel of "indiscriminately" murdering Palestinians and encouraging "lynch mobs." She also celebrated resistance to "Zionism around the world" while lauding the school's support of the anti-Israel BDS movement.
The law school initially took the speech down from YouTube but released it in full last week following public outcry from both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel groups.
"I want to celebrate CUNY Law as one of the few, if not the only law school to make a public statement defending the rights of its students to organize and speak out against Israeli settler colonialism," Mohammed said from the podium.
"That this is the law school that passed and endorsed BDS on a student and faculty level recognizing that…as Israel continues to indiscriminately rain bullets and bombs on worshipers, murdering the old, the young, attacking even funerals and graveyards, as it encourages lynch mobs to target Palestinian homes and businesses as it imprisons its children…that our silence is no longer acceptable," she said.
"And," the future lawyer continued, "we did all of this in spite of the racism, in spite of the selective activism the self-serving interests of CUNY central, an institution that continues to fail us, that continues to train and cooperate with the fascist NYPD, the military, that continues to train IDF soldiers to carry out that same violence globally…"
In another part of her speech, Mohammed, who also called for a "revolution" to challenge "oppressive" institutions in America, spoke out against the treatment of "Palestinian political prisoners like HLF in U. S. prisons." HLF, or the Holy Land Foundation, was a Texas-based charity that "existed to support Hamas," a designated terror group by the U.S. State Department, according to the DOJ.
The speaker later urged her graduating class of lawyers to dismantle capitalism. "The joy and excitement that fills the auditorium... may it be the fuel for the fight against capitalism, racism, imperialism and Zionism around the world," she concluded.
Prominent American Jewish groups and allies widely condemned Mohammed's speech, with some accusing her of "trading in antisemitic tropes" while others demanded CUNY Law lose its taxpayer funding for hosting the event.
The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of New York called the speech "incendiary anti-Israel propaganda" in a statement, noting that Mohammed’s speech comes just one year after the law school came under fire for hosting Nerdeen Kiswani, then president of CUNY Law's Students for Justice in Palestine, as the 2022 commencement speaker.
"This particular commencement speech cast aside the principle of seeking truth in a shameless attempt to vilify CUNY’s constructive engagement with Israel and the New York Jewish community and to denigrate Israel’s supporters on campus while trading in antisemitic tropes," the group said. "We strongly encourage CUNY to revise its guidelines surrounding commencement speeches."
"Graduations should be a place for all — not a time to denigrate students’ identities," The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) wrote earlier this month while retweeting the JCRC of New York. "We are appalled to see such an egregious display of hostility toward ‘Zionists’ (which is how many Jews see themselves) and Israel in CUNY Law’s commencement address. This is yet another example of the harm Jewish students experience on campus."
Former New York Congressman Lee Zeldin tweeted, "Raging antisemitism has fully consumed the City University of New York. Until the administration is overhauled and all Jewish students and faculty are welcome again, taxpayer funding must be immediately halted."... (Read more)
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