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Antisemitic CUNY Law Speaker Resurfaces with LA Fire Blame on Israel
CUNY Law commencement speaker Fatima Mohammed. Photo: Screenshot
JNS.org – Fatima Mousa Mohammed, the City University of New York School of Law graduate who made headlines in May for her anti-Israel commencement speech, is now blaming the Jewish state for the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles.
In posts on X, Mohammed linked Gaza bombings to global climate consequences, claiming the “flames of Gaza” would affect everyone, the New York Post reported on Saturday.
On Wednesday, a day after the catastrophic Southern California blazes were sparked, she wrote: “Dropping hundreds of thousands of tons of bombs on Gaza, turning it into a blazing inferno, has consequences that extend beyond our moral condemnation—there are climate consequences that will find us all.”
A subsequent X post from her read: “You cannot care about the quality of rain failing in one part of the world while ignoring the rain of fire you help fund in others. The climate crisis will only worsen, and our complacency will only fuel the flames.”
Mohammed also wrote: “The flames of Gaza will not stop there, they will find us all if we don’t stop them. … None of us are spared in the eye of the empire.”
The January 2025 Southern California wildfires have killed at least 16 people, scorched 36,000 acres (56 square miles) and destroyed or damaged more than 12,400 structures, including homes and businesses, with the Palisades and Eaton fires causing the most damage. Nearly 180,000 residents have been evacuated, and economic losses are estimated at $52 billion–$57 billion, making it the costliest wildfire in U.S. history.
In her 12-minute CUNY commencement speech on May 12, Mohammed said that “in this moment of celebrating who we are, 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 organize and speak out against Israeli settler colonialism.
“That this is the law school that passed and endorsed BDS on a student and faculty level, recognizing that absent a critical, imperialism, settler, colonialism lens, our work and this school’s mission statement is void of value,” Mohammed said.
“That as Israel continues to indiscriminately rain 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, carrying the ongoing nakba, that our silence is no longer acceptable,” she added.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was among many to condemn the talk as antisemitic. “City University of New York class day speaker slanders Israel and enthusiastically celebrates antisemitism. Cheers on open borders and releasing violent criminals from jail. And decries the ‘fascist NYPD,’” the senator tweeted. “This is a law school. Paid for with tax dollars.”
Eric Adams, mayor of New York, also responded to Mohammed’s talk.
“I was proud to offer a different message at this year’s CUNY law commencement ceremony—one that celebrates the progress of our city and country, and one that honors those who fight to keep us safe and protect our freedoms, like my uncle Joe, who died at age 19 in Vietnam while giving his life for our country,” he tweeted. “We cannot allow words of negativity and divisiveness to be the only ones our students hear.”
Michal Cotler-Wunsh, the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s special envoy for combating antisemitism and a former Knesset member, called the talk, which received a standing ovation, “Orwellian” and an issue not just for Jews, but for democracy.
CUNY has faced recent criticism for antisemitic behavior. An April 6 New York Post op-ed referred to it as “America’s most antisemitic university.”
The post Antisemitic CUNY Law Speaker Resurfaces with LA Fire Blame on Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.