- A Muslim student in America has suffered widespread criticism after speaking out against Israeli violence towards Palestinians
- The label of ‘antisemitism’ has once again been used as an excuse to silence genuine political discourse, despite no evidence of racist language
A Yemeni-American student of CUNY School of Law, New York, has been widely accused of antisemitism for commenting on Israeli policy towards the Palestinian people during her graduation speech.
“I want to celebrate CUNY law as one of the few, if not the only law school, to make a public statement defending the right of its students to organise and speak out against Israeli settler colonialism,” said Fatima Mohammed in May.
She went on to cite indiscriminate bombing and violence towards Palestinian worshippers, imprisonment of children and expulsion of Palestinians from their homes.
Both Republican and Democratic figures have spoken out against Fatima’s speech. Republican senator, Ted Cruz, tweeted that her speech “slanders Israel and enthusiastically celebrates antisemitism,” while candidate for governor Lee Zeldin went a step further in describing it as “raging antisemitism.”
Among the Democratic voices crying against Fatima was Congressman Ritchie Torres, who described her as “crazed.”
Some media channels have failed to offer a more balanced opinion. The New York Post has published an article which is charmingly titled “CUNY Law – where radicals go to spit on the profession they study,” while the Daily Mail, demonstrating an unsurprising lack of nuance, opened its description of Fatima as a “Yemeni immigrant” before stating that she “rattled off” opinions on her peers, including praising their support of asylum seekers and describing “screams” from the audience. Conservative journalist, Megyn Kelly, described her on air as “this lunatic law grad.”
Bizarrely, a statement attributed to the chancellor of CUNY itself described the speech as a “public expression of hate towards people and communities based on their religion, race or political affiliation,” despite Fatima Muhammed thanking CUNY for the opportunity to speak out in her speech. Why they approved the speech to start with is a question that remains unanswered.
The widespread backlash has been described by Al Jazeera as a bullying campaign, and it is unclear, when addressing her claims, why Fatima’s criticisms of Israel could be misconstrued as antisemitic. The Israeli government has indeed been responsible for attacks on worshippers in Masjid Al Aqsa. There is documented proof that Palestinian children have been imprisoned and mistreated by Israeli authorities, not to mention schoolchildren being shot dead at checkpoints. The destruction of Palestinian homes by Israeli settlers is documented fact.
While a society that prides itself on free speech can allow for criticism of political views, the accusations of antisemitism against Fatima smack of the keyword-driven slander that political movements throughout history have used to silence individuals. It is clear, once again, that the political and media narrative in the US is skewed to be blind to Israel’s oppressive policies – to conflate criticism of their political and military agenda against Palestinians with criticism of the Jewish people as a race or religion, to accuse anti-Zionism of being antisemitism.
In fact, the CUNY School of Law Jewish Law Students Association (JLSA), in a move of integrity and solidarity, issued a statement that it “stands in solidarity with our friend and classmate Fatima, who is currently being target by a racist hate campaign from external organisations,” stating that “for years, Zionist organisations have been enacting targeted harassment campaigns against Palestinian and Muslim law students at the CUNY School of Law.”
Though the media narrative may be biased, it becomes ever harder to ignore the plight of the Palestinian people. In a quote from Fatima cited by CUNY JLSA in their statement, “Palestine can no longer be the exception to our pursuit of justice.”
