Media Roundup: Palestine Legal supports CUNY Law commencement speaker Fatima Mohammed

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Media Roundup: Palestine Legal supports CUNY Law commencement speaker Fatima Mohammed

On June 13th, Palestine Legal wrote a civil rights letter signed by 13 legal groups to the City University of New York (CUNY) to raise serious concerns that the university's statement condemning as “hate speech” the principled remarks by CUNY Law graduate Fatima Mohammed violated state and federal laws.

Below is a media roundup on our support for Fatima Mohammed mentioned in outlets including Jewish Currents, The Daily Beast, Electronic Intifada, Mondoweiss, and The Forward.

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Civil Rights Groups Urge CUNY to Retract Anti-Palestinian Statement and Apologize

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Civil Rights Groups Urge CUNY to Retract Anti-Palestinian Statement and Apologize

Palestine Legal and 13 civil rights groups, including the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee, and Law for Black Lives, wrote the City University of New York (CUNY) today to raise serious concerns that the university’s May 30th Statement condemning as “hate speech” the principled remarks by graduating CUNY Law 3L Fatima Mohammed violated state and federal laws. Published two weeks after Mohammed gave her speech in which she criticized Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, the statement from CUNY’s Board of Trustees and Chancellor contributed to the bullying campaign led by anti-Palestinian groups, politicians, and rightwing media outlets in the wake of Mohammed’s speech, and incited additional online harassment and threats against Mohammed.

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City University of New York Cancels Palestinian Speaker on Nakba Day (Updated)

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City University of New York Cancels Palestinian Speaker on Nakba Day (Updated)

Palestine Legal wrote to the City University of New York (CUNY) Hunter College Friday informing the college that its cancellation of Palestinian CUNY alumna, Nerdeen Mohsen, from an event commemorating the Nakba violates the federal and state discrimination laws, in addition to the Constitution.

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Palestine Protests: Weaponized Accusations of Antisemitism Distract from Palestinian Rights

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Palestine Protests: Weaponized Accusations of Antisemitism Distract from Palestinian Rights

Widespread media reports of a rise in antisemitism as protests for Palestinian rights peaked in May relied on often false, misleading, decontextualized, and distorted information. The narratives were largely based on data from the ADL and other Israel advocacy groups, whose methodology has been called out as politically biased.

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CUNY Law Issues Historic Statement Condemning Harassment of Palestine Advocates on Campus

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CUNY Law Issues Historic Statement Condemning Harassment of Palestine Advocates on Campus

On June 30, after months of student organizing, City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law issued a statement in support of rising 3L Nerdeen Kiswani, who has faced a barrage of anti-Palestinian hate over the past 9 months in response to her years-long activism supporting Palestinian freedom. It is believed to be the first statement from a U.S.-based university condemning censorship campaigns against students supporting Palestinian rights and anti-Palestinian hate.

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2020 in Review: The Movement Will Not Be Canceled

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Palestine Legal has released a new report analyzing trends in the censorship of the U.S. movement for Palestinian rights in 2020, in the context of the Trump administration’s crackdown on Palestine advocacy and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Palestine Legal responded to 213 incidents of suppression of U.S.-based Palestine advocacy over the course of 2020, totaling 1,707 suppression incidents between 2014 and 2020.

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NYT Article on Campus Palestine Advocacy Erases Scope of Anti-Palestinian Attacks

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NYT Article on Campus Palestine Advocacy Erases Scope of Anti-Palestinian Attacks

Last month, the New York Times published an article “What Zoom Does to Campus Conflicts Over Israel and Free Speech” that featured Palestinian CUNY Law student Nerdeen Kiswani, who has also been a Palestine Legal client. Palestine Legal Michael Ratner Justice Fellow Amira Mattar issued her own thoughts on the missing context from the piece.

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