Outraged Jewish organizations are demanding sanctions and defunding of City University of New York’s (CUNY) public law school after graduating student Fatima Mousa Mohammed accused Israel of “indiscriminately raining bullets and bombs” on Palestinians during her commencement speech.
She also criticized American laws as “white supremacy” and attacked the NYPD and U.S. military as “fascist,” Fox News reported.
Her speech also celebrated resistance to “Zionism around the world” and lauded the school’s support of the anti-Israel BDS movement. Pro-Israel groups and Jewish allies have condemned Mohammed’s speech and demanded the CUNY Law lose its taxpayer funding for hosting the event.
She also falsely accused Israel of “indiscriminately” murdering Palestinians and encouraging “lynch mobs,” the report said.
Initially, CUNY Law took the speech down from YouTube but then reposted it in full after complaints from both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel groups, Fox News noted.
“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 her 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 added.
“And, 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,” the future attorney added.
Mohammed also criticized the treatment of “Palestinian political prisoners like HLF in U.S. prisons” and called for a “revolution” to challenge allegedly oppressive institutions in America. The Holy Land Foundation (HLF) is a Texas-based charity that the Department of Justice (DOJ) stated “existed to support Hamas,” a U.S. State Department-designated terrorist group.
She also called for eliminating 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.
Mohammed’s speech received widespread condemnation from prominent American Jewish groups and allies, with some accusing her of perpetuating “antisemitic tropes.” Additionally, there were calls for CUNY Law, the hosting institution of the event, to lose its taxpayer funding.
The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of New York issued a statement describing the speech as “incendiary anti-Israel propaganda.” They highlighted that Mohammed’s address took place merely a year after CUNY Law faced criticism for inviting Nerdeen Kiswani, the former president of CUNY Law’s Students for Justice in Palestine, as the commencement speaker in 2022.
“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 added. “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) noted 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.”
