In her address, Mohammed promoted violence, spread hatred of Israel and the police, honored terrorist financiers and showed support for the BDS movement.
Mohammed’s speech shocked the country, with condemnation pouring into CUNY from all directions. In the speech, Mohammed also noted, “... absent a critical imperialism settler-colonialism lens, our work and the school’s mission statement is void of value.”

Mohammed then proceeded to accuse Israel – through a series of lies – of “indiscriminately rain(ing) bullets and bombs on worshippers, 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, as it continues its project of settler-colonialism, expelling Palestinians from their homes…”

In response, CUNY JLSA tweeted more support for Mohammed, saying, “...we love and support Fatima and have been so lucky for the past three years to organize with her against Israel’s attempted genocide of Palestinians…”

A few days later, the group released yet another statement of support for Mohammed, claiming that a majority of Jewish students at CUNY law school supported her and her speech. The statement read in part, “As Jewish students attending an institution structured around social justice, we denounce both the murder and dispossession enacted in our name through the zionist project [Israel]…”

The group’s support for Mohammed created a perception of overwhelming Jewish support for her speech, an idea parroted by MSNBC and other outlets and promoted on social media. Anti-Israel publications also used CUNY JLSA’s support for Mohammed to justify her ideology.

CUNY JLSA’s statement in support of Fatima Mohammed was posted on the website of the violent anti-Israel activist group Within Our Lifetime. Clearly proud of its mention on WOL’s website, CUNY JLSA linked to the page in its bio on X.  

May 2, 2024 Calls to free arrested “campers” from CUNY’s City College “Gaza Solidarity Encampment.”

April 25, 2024 Hosts Passover seder at the encampment at City College.

April 22, 2024 Posts Passover message: “There can be no Jewish liberation without Palestinian liberation.”

April 17, 2024 Tweets “love and solidarity” to the “brave students” in the encampment at Columbia. “All academic institutions have a responsibility to divest from the genocidal apartheid regime that is Isr*al!

February 15, 2024 Reposts a February 15 tweet by CUNY4Palestine asking for signatures on a letter supporting virulently antisemitic prof Shellyne Rodriguez, fired from two teaching positions for a harassing two journalists with a machete.

October 7, 2023, CUNY JLSA tweets “We stand in unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian people in their righteous and determined struggle against murderous settler colonialism and apartheid! Palestine will be free!”

May 19, 2023, CUNY JLSA tweets “CUNY Law JLSA loves Fatima, our friend and Class of 2023 commencement speaker.”

December 8, 2022, CUNY JLSA tweets “We reaffirm our solidarity with Palestine liberation and our conviction that there are no ‘conversations’ between the oppressed and the oppressor.”

October 8, 2022 statement by CUNY JLSA opposing the adoption of the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism by CUNY’s chancellor:. “In our organizing together as JLSA and SJP over the years, we have repeatedly rejected the idea that zionism–the settler-colonial project of establishing the state of Israel–furthers the self-determination of the Jewish people.”
May 12, 2022 CUNY JLSA tweets their support for WOL leader Nerdeen Kiswani, who was chosen by her peers to deliver the 2022 CUNY Law commencement address: “... we, the only explicitly Jewish organization on @CUNYLaw campus, love+support Nerdeen and can’t wait to hear her speak tomorrow!...”

January 22, 2022 CUNY JLSA co-sponsors protest held in Brooklyn titled: “FREEDOM FOR AHMAD SA’ADAT,” a PFLP terrorist in prison for assassinating an Israeli minister.

November 29, 2021, CUNY JLSA co-authors BDS resolution with CUNY Law SJP which accused Israel of “ongoing apartheid, genocide, and war crimes…against the Palestinian people.”

October 29, 2021 CUNY JLSA co-hosts webinar to lobby against tax exemptions for “‘charitable’ Zionist orgs funding apartheid.”