CUNY Law Compromises Palestinian Student’s Safety, Caves to Zionist Pressure

Palestinian activist Nerdeen Kiswani at a rally in New York. (Credit: Within Our Lifetime - United for Palestine)

The unprofessional response of City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law to a Zionist smear campaign has fueled vicious cyberbullying against a Palestinian student. 

Nerdeen Kiswani, a second-year law student, came under fire last week for a video she recently uploaded to Tiktok. In the video, filmed three years ago, Nerdeen tells a friend wearing an Israeli Defense Forces sweatshirt that his shirt is problematic and holds a lighter up to the shirt, saying she hates it. Before Nerdeen explained the meaning of the shirt, her friend had been unaware that he was wearing the logo of an occupying force responsible for widespread violence against Palestinians.

The video clearly shows the individual was unthreatened by Nerdeen's jest. 

Websites devoted to vilifying Palestinians and their supporters have misrepresented the old video as an excuse to attack Nerdeen and her well-known advocacy for Palestinian rights. Nerdeen is the chair of Within Our Lifetime - United for Palestine, which organized a 1,000 person march against Israeli annexation of the West Bank in July.

Act.il, an app with deep ties to Israeli intelligence and military, and partially funded by the Israeli government, provided critical machinery to badger CUNY Law into punishing Nerdeen.

The app rewarded users for sending hundreds of pre-scripted emails to the administration falsely claiming that Nerdeen had threatened a Zionist student at CUNY. Nerdeen’s friend is neither a Zionist nor a CUNY student.

Despite informing Nerdeen it was “not even there yet” with regards to making public statements on the matter when they spoke with her on September 22, CUNY Law posted and then deleted multiple messages lending credibility to the campaign against Nerdeen that same day. 

Apparently unsatisfied with CUNY Law’s response, Zionists have escalated efforts to expel her with an email campaign to the CUNY Board of Directors and the Chancellor. 

“Smear campaigns targeting those on the front lines of the movement for Palestine are nothing new. It’s up to universities to recognize this, and protect students from harassment and threats,” said Nerdeen. “Having an amazing community behind me helps withstand the attacks.”

"Palestinian women face some of the most virulent attacks for asserting our right to self-determination and freedom from occupation," said Amira Mattar, Michael Ratner Justice Fellow at Palestine Legal. "CUNY Law should be working their hardest to protect Nerdeen instead of making her vulnerable to racist threats."

In the days since CUNY Law posted its public statements, Nerdeen has received numerous racist, Islamophobic and violent threats towards her and her family. Some messages outrageously accused Nerdeen of murdering a homeless man by setting him on fire.

Actor Michael Rapaport, who has a history of aggravated harassment, privately messaged Nerdeen telling her that he will be getting her expelled.

Students and organizations are banding together to support Nerdeen against the racist campaign.

CUNY's Jewish Law Student Association, the National Lawyers Guild CUNY Chapter, and Samidoun have condemned CUNY Law's uninformed response to the Israel-funded campaign and the way it bolstered the racist attacks against Nerdeen. 

CUNY Law’s mistreatment of Nerdeen comes several months after a first-year law student dropped out of school because she was uncomfortable with the presence of support for Palestinian rights at CUNY Law. 

The former student stated she is working with pro-Israel organizations about a potential Title VI complaint and reports being in conversation with the office responsible for reviewing complaints as recently as last week. The former student announced her plan to use the video as evidence of a hostile campus environment for Jewish students, even though the video involves someone who is not Jewish, does not go to CUNY, and was taken years before either Nerdeen or the Zionist student were enrolled at CUNY Law. 

CUNY campuses have a history of censoring criticism of Israel. Israel advocacy groups commonly accuse students and faculty of antisemitism solely for speech in support of Palestinian rights, prompting investigations that have ultimately cleared Palestine advocates of wrongdoing. 

Palestine Legal is jointly supporting Nerdeen alongside local counsel as she navigates these appalling attacks on a dedicated activist for Palestinian rights.

TAKE ACTION

Report Act.il for harassment against Nerdeen. A screenshot of the false statement is here. You can report the app to Google here, using the app id “com.actil.android.app.” You can report the app to Apple here.

CUNY NLG has asked supporters to take action by emailing campus administrators to rectify its mistreatment against Nerdeen. 

Post your statements and photos online with the #WeStandWithNerdeen hashtag.