A left-wing New York university funded by the $5 billion taxpayer is facing calls for its retraction after a graduate called Israel’s creation “a catastrophe.”
Fatima Mohammed made a series of inflammatory remarks at the annual City University of New York (CUNY) Law School opening ceremony on May 12.
The activist Students for Justice in Palestine denounced Israel for its “settler colonialism” and “arbitrary” killing in a video of the speech posted online last week.
Students for Justice in Palestine activist denounced Israel for its “settler colonialism” and “arbitrary” killing in a video of the speech
Mohammed claimed that the Israeli government encouraged “lynch mobs” and praised resistance to “Zionism around the world.”
She also accused the Jewish state of “continuing the ongoing Nakba” – an Arabic term used to describe the establishment of Israel that means catastrophe.
“Our morality will not be bought by investors,” said the grad bashing Israel, echoing an old anti-Semitic trope linking Jews to the world of finance.
During the 13-minute diatribe, Mohammed spoke out against the alleged injustice of the “Palestinian political prisoners like HLF in US prisons.”
HLF, or the Holy Land Foundation, was a Texas-based charity that “existed to support Hamas,” according to the Justice Department.
The would-be lawyer also made the bizarre claim that US law is “a manifestation of white supremacy that continues to oppress and oppress people in this country and around the world.”
She also claimed that the US military and the New York City Police Department (NYPD) are “fascist.”
“May we rejoice in the corners of our bedroom apartments and dining tables in New York City, may it fuel the fight against capitalism, racism, imperialism and Zionism around the world,” she said.
The idea of a homeland for the Jewish people is deeply rooted in Jewish history, religion and culture.
She told the audience at the ceremony that she “comes from the rich soil of Yemen, raised by the humble streets of Queens.”
Mohammed has been at the forefront of the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and several other anti-Israel initiatives on campus.
In a tacit acknowledgment of the speech’s shocking content, CUNY Law initially retracted the video before re-released it last Thursday.
It is the latest anti-Semitic row to engulf the big apple’s left-leaning university after coming under fire last year for passing a motion supporting the boycott of Israel.
The state’s human rights department opened an investigation in February to assess whether it discriminated against Jews.
And the Israel-obsessed law school also brought forward a Palestinian activist last year in an opening speech that denounced the Middle Eastern nation for alleged human rights abuses.
CUNY receives a generous handout from the taxpayer at a cost of $5.7 billion next yearRaccording to state authorities, including some of the federal funding.
Lee Zeldin, a 43-year-old former Republican congressman from New York, said “until the Biden administration is overhauled and all Jewish students and teachers are welcomed back, taxpayer funding must be stopped immediately.”
He added, “Rentic anti-Semitism has completely consumed the City University of New York.”
Zeldin said City University of New York should be disbanded after Fatima Mohammed’s 13-minute diatribe
Protesters marched through New York earlier this month to protest Israel’s 75th anniversary as an independent state
Ritchie Torres, a Republican member of the House of Representatives, accused Mohammed of suffering from “anti-Israel derangement syndrome.”
“Imagine being so insane with hatred of Israel as a Jewish state that you make it the subject of your first law school graduation speech,” he said.
Arsen Ostrovsky, CEO of The International Legal Forum, a global network of lawyers fighting anti-Semitism, said today CUNY has become “Ground Zero for campus Jew-hatred in America.”
“You might expect such a speech in Ramallah or Lebanon, but unfortunately CUNY is indistinguishable these days,” Ostrovsky said.
“Given CUNY’s status as a public institution, their funding should be withdrawn immediately, as it is unfathomable that state funds would support such entrenched racial hatred and incitement,” he said.
DailyMail.com has reached out to CUNY’s media team seeking comment.