Growing calls for CUNY to be stripped of $2.8billion it gets from taxpayers after law student's anti-Israel, cop-bashing commencement speech... as it's revealed the 2022 speaker was ALSO a pro-Palestine activist
By Jen Smith
Daily Mail
May 30, 2023
Fatima Mousa Mohammed was chosen by her classmates as the 2023 commencement speaker at CUNY Law's graduation ceremony on May 12. Her remarks about Israel, Palestine, the NYPD and the Armed Forces sparked uproar
There are growing calls for CUNY to lose its government funding after the commencement speech of a pro-Palestine, graduating student who used the floor to denigrate Israel, the NYPD, the US Armed Forces and local politicians after receiving her subsidized education.
Fatima Mousa Mohammed was chosen by her classmates as the 2023 commencement speaker at CUNY Law's graduation ceremony on May 12.
Her 13-minute-long speech has only now become public after CUNY uploaded it to YouTube. Initially, the school kept it private.
In her remarks, Mohammed - whose family is Yemeni but who grew up in Queens - called the NYPD 'fascist', accused NYC Mayor Eric Adams of endorsing 'murder', labeled the law a 'manifestation of white supremacy' and accused Israelis of 'settler colonialism'.
Her remarks sparked fury and fear among Jewish groups, who are now demanding to know why CUNY allowed such pro-Palestinian commentary at the commencement ceremony for a second year.
Last year's speaker, Nerdeen Kiswani, is also a pro-Palestine activist who used her remarks to comment on the conflict with similar vehemence.
'I have been been facing a campaign of Zionist harassment by well-funded organizations with ties to the Israeli government and military,' she said.
She then called a school-organized trip to Israel 'an affront to everyone at CUNY fighting for liberation.'
CUNY is yet to denounce either speech.
In a statement, a school spokesman said only that the commencement remarks reflected the students' views, but not the school's.
The 2022 commencement speaker was Nerdeen Kiswani, a pro-Palestine activist who used her remarks to comment on the conflict with similar vehemence. 'I have been been facing a campaign of Zionist harassment by well-funded organizations with ties to the Israeli government and military,' she said. She then called a school-organized trip to Israel 'an affront to everyone at CUNY fighting for liberation.'
Kiswani thanked the school for allowing her to use her speech to give the remarks last year
Kiswani is a passionate pro-Palestine activist who has demonstrated alongside Bella Hadid. Hadid, whose father Mohammed Hadid was born to a Palestinian Muslim family in Nazareth, found herself in hot water for commenting on the conflict
CUNY's 2023 Operating Budget Request revealed the university receives $2.8billion from the three level of government
There are now growing calls among taxpayers and New York politicians to strip CUNY of its funding.
The annual cost of tuition at CUNY Law is $15,000. The national average is $50,000.
The subsidization is thanks in large part to the funding CUNY receives for its 25 colleges from all three branches of government.
In 2022, CUNY received $2.8billion in government funding; $2billion from New York State, $527million from New York City, and $312million from federal education programs, according to CUNY's 2023 budget request.
Administrators asked for an additional $400million in total for this year and also proposed a freeze on fees.
Both New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams proposed cuts earlier this year, before the commencement speech saga.
Outraged by her remarks, CUNY Law professor Jeffrey Lax is among those demanding action.
In an interview with Newsmax this weekend, he called Mohammed's speech 'the most disturbing commencement speech' he had ever heard.
'To my ears it was a blatant call for American insurrection. She calls for rage. She uses the word rage to be the fuel for the fight against capitalism and Zionism
'An entire people. That is one step short of calling for violence. If some violence results from this, CUNY law is to blame.
'Students have a right to free speech even when they're terribly wrong. But I hold the administration accountable here, wholly because.
'The administration reviews almost every commencement speech by a student that I have ever heard of.
'I am sure it happened here too, and they condoned this speech and put it out there.
'They are responsible.'
He is part of the group SAFE CUNY, a group which 'advocates for Zionist Jews systemically discriminated against and excluded by CUNY and the faculty union.'
Others, including Republican New York politicians, are also calling for cuts.
'Beyond despicable that blatant antisemitism has been allowed to take hold at a taxpayer funded university here in New York,' said Rep. Anthony D'Esposito.
Council Member Ari Kagan called the remarks 'vile', 'anti-American' and 'anti-Israel.'
'Totally unacceptable graduation speech for taxpayer-funded institution. CUNY should immediately condemn this hateful speech & take al steps necessary to address such dangerous rhetoric.'
'This hate-filled and dangerous speech has been brought to you by CUNY and paid for by New York taxpayers.
'Keep this in mind next time our elected leaders highlight their commitment to fighting antisemitism,' said New York State Assemblyman Himcha Eisenstein.
ADDENDUM FROM THE DAILY MAIL;
'The whole place is run by far left lunatics!'
A CUNY Law professor who has previously complained about the
university's alleged anti-Semitism says the entire place is being run by
a faculty of 'far left, Marxist lunatics.'
Professor Jeffrey Lax, who has taught at CUNY for the last 20 years, told DailyMail.com in an interview that the whole school was being run by 'left wing lunatics', and that someone had to have approved the remarks.
'I have never heard of a commencement speech not being reviewed [by staff].
'Of course you have to look at it, regardless of whether or not you believe the student may say something inflammatory, you have to look at it first.'
He has complained about anti-Semitism in the past, and says students have also confided in him about fearing alienation or even retribution if don't follow a hardcore, left-wing political ideology.
'The faculty are all lunatics. The unbelievable far left who are pushing for the end of America,' Professor Lax said.
He blames much of what he calls an anti-Semitic rhetoric on the The Professional Staff Congress or (PSC CUNY), the teacher's union which many faculty are a part of.
'The union is a Marxist organization and Marx wasn't just a communist... he was anti-Judaism.
'Sometimes it's hard to distinguish between what he said and what Hitler said.'
Professor Lax has complained of anti-Semitism in the past, particularly against the school's adoption of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement (BDS) - something Fatima praised it for in her remarks.
The movement 'works to end international support for Israel's oppression of Palestinians and pressure Israel to comply with international law.'
CUNY Law endorsed it last year to great controversy.
SAFE CUNY, an organization which Lax is part of, complained to state regulators and the school was placed under investigation earlier this year.
The outcome of that investigation is yet to emerge.
Professor Lax claims the last two years have been a 'living hell' for him, but he refuses to quit.
'I'm the grandchild of Holocaust survivors... I feel a deep and profound duty to fight this. I'm not going to walk away.
'I get complaints about this all the time, there are open or outwardly Jewish kids who have come to me, but it's not just that.
'There are, no question, students who hide their position on politics,' he said.
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