FIRST ON FOX—Republican Congressman Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., will introduce legislation Thursday to prohibit universities that “authorize antisemitic events on campus” from participating in student loan and grant programs.
The ‘‘Stop Antisemitism on College Campuses Act’’ was proposed in response to a recent controversial CUNY Law School commencement speech, where the speaker, student Fatima Mousa Mohammed, accused the U.S. military and Israel of “indiscriminate” murder, and asked students to join a “revolution” against Zionism, capitalism and racism.
Mohammed said that Israel “continues to indiscriminately rain bullets and bombs on worshipers, murdering the old, the young, attacking even funerals and graveyards” and encourages “lynch mobs to target Palestinian homes and businesses as it imprisons its children.”
The speech drew bipartisan backlash from progressives like Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., who called the address “anti-Israel derangement syndrome,” and former New York Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin, who said that taxpayer money should be pulled from the college for “raging antisemitism.”
Lawler is calling for CUNY to “face stiff penalties if they continue to let hate have a home” through his bill, which would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to add that an institution cannot “authorize, facilitate, provide funding for, or otherwise support” antisemitism.
“CUNY should be ashamed of itself for allowing this ridiculous antisemitism to permeate on its campus,” he added. “Stopping antisemitism dead in its tracks is critical for supporting our Jewish communities in New York.”
Jeffery Lax, a law professor at the university, told Fox News’ Trace Gallagher Wednesday on “Fox News @ Night,” “In my 20 years of doing this, this is the worst, most disgusting commencement speech I’ve ever heard.”
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of New York and New Jersey tweeted, “We are appalled to see such an egregious display of hostility toward ‘Zionists’ (which is how many Jews see themselves) and Israel in CUNY Law’s commencement address. This is yet another example of the harm Jewish students experience on campus.”
The pro-Israel American campus group tracked 18 incidents since 2015 on CUNY law school campus where students or faculty spoke out against Israel.
According to the Jewish Virtual Library, 36 states have adopted laws, executive orders, or resolutions designed to discourage boycotts against Israel. Many, but not all of these laws have been designed to limit or discourage Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) groups on college campuses.