10 | JUNE 15 • 2023 

PURELY COMMENTARY

T

he CUNY School of 
Law’s commencement 
speaker Fatima 
Mohammed could be a 
contestant in a sordid game of 
how many antisemitic slurs can 
be packed into one speech.
In her May 
12 address, 
Mohammed 
compared 
Jews to Nazis 
and called 
for the mass 
slaughter 
of Jews via the destruction 
of Israel. Both are explicit 
violations of the widely adopted 
IHRA Working Definition of 
Antisemitism.
These were just the worst 
of her antisemitic ravings. 
She claimed that Israel 
indiscriminately kills Muslim 
worshippers and old and young 
civilians, attacks funerals and 
graveyards, and encourages 
lynch mobs.
Mohammed didn’t spare 
CUNY either. She invoked 
classic antisemitic tropes, 
accusing donors of controlling 
the institution. She capped off 
the speech with the cry of “by 
any means necessary,
” in effect 
rejecting legal and peaceful 
means of solving problems — a 
rather strange position for an 
aspiring lawyer to take.

HISTORY OF ANTISEMITISM
Those who chose Mohammed 
to deliver the commencement 
speech shouldn’t have been 
surprised at the results. She 
has a long history of antise-
mitic and anti-American hate 
speech.
Her recent tweets and 
Instagram posts have included: 
“may every Zionist burn in the 

hottest pit of hell”; “i pray upon 
the death of the USA
”; “may 
every zionist like yourself face 
the wrath of your injustice”; 
“May God curse you”; “quick 
make dua [pray] for the fall of 
Zionism and the destruction 
of Israel”; “zionist think they’re 
doing something when they call 
me a israel hater like … yeah 
buddy its not just hate — I don’t 
believe israel should exist at all”; 
and “here is your daily reminder 
that a world without israel 
existed and a future without it 
will too.
”
At “Globalize the Intifada” 
demonstrations last year, 
Mohammed shrieked, “Glory 
to the martyrs … Glory to 
each and every single person 
throwing the stones”; “Demand 
that Zionist professors are not 
welcomed on your campus! 
Demand that Zionist students 
are not in spaces where 
Palestinian students are, because 
Zionism is a threat! Zionism 
is a genocidal threat to us!”; 
and “Oh God, make the fire of 
Muslims burn on the enemies!”
Much more insidious and 
abhorrent than Mohammed’s 
personal prejudice is the 

institutional, systemic 
antisemitism at CUNY, which 
condoned and likely fostered 
her violent Jew-hatred.
Indeed, she praised the Law 
School’s endorsement of BDS at 
the faculty level. Her antisemitic 
commencement speech was 
met with multiple rounds of 
applause, and the dean who 
introduced her joined in.
While CUNY’s Board 
of Trustees and chancellor 
condemned Mohammed’s 
address as hate speech, School 
of Law professors sent a public 
letter to them that criticized 
these condemnations and 
openly supported Mohammed.
CAIR also joined the chorus, 
condemning CUNY, New 
York City Mayor Eric Adams, 
congresspeople like Ritchie 
Torres and the New York City 
Council, all of whom dared 
to courageously stand up to 
Mohammed’s racist hate speech.
The CAIR press release 
echoed CUNY’s antisemitic 
apologists, saying Mohammed’s 
“speech was submitted, 
examined and pre-approved by 
CUNY in written form and a 
verbal recording. Furthermore, 

the speech was celebrated by 
the audience. CUNY student 
leaders, including the Jewish 
Law Students Association, have 
spoken up in her defense.
”
The far-left so-called Jewish 
Law Students Association, in 
fact, includes non-Jews such as 
Mohammed herself, according 
to Honest Reporting. It also 
co-sponsored the school’s BDS 
resolution, which the regional 
director of the ADL criticized, 
noting that it effectively 
ostracized and alienated a large 
majority of Jewish students on 
campus.

CUNY IS INVESTIGATED
It is not surprising that CUNY 
is being investigated by the 
New York State Division of 
Human Rights over allegations 
of discrimination against Jews. 
In addition, CUNY’s chancel-
lor appointed a committee to 
investigate antisemitism at the 
school.
The CUNY controversy 
comes on the heels of 
an announcement of a 
federal initiative to combat 
antisemitism. Thus, CUNY’s 
culture of Jew-hatred is a real-
world test of our determination 
to root out institutional and 
systemic antisemitism.
Decisive legal action must 
be taken against those involved 
in CUNY’s wrongdoing. They 
must be held accountable, and 
the problem rooted out.
The federal government has 
the power to do this: A federal 
monitor can be appointed to 
oversee enforcement of the 
law, in particular Executive 
Order 13899 (Combating Anti-
Semitism) and Title VI of the 
Civil Rights Act of 1964.
On the state level, New York 

Farley Weiss and 
Leonard Grunstein

opinion

CUNY Must Be Held Responsible

EVULAJ90 VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS.

The CUNY Law Review is published by the editors and staff at the 
CUNY School of Law in Long Island City, Queens, N.Y.

continued on page 12

