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Professor to CUNY’s Faculty Union: Let My People Go!
The B. Altman & Company Building housing the City University of New York Graduate Center in New York City. Photo Credit: Beyond My Ken/Wikimedia.
Three years ago, almost to the day, I joined five brave professors at the City University of New York (CUNY) in filing a lawsuit against the union that represents us.
Why? For starters, as a Zionist Jew, I was appalled when the union’s delegates chanted “Zionism out of CUNY!” at an anti-Israel rally.
And I was disgusted when the union passed a resolution supporting the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement that called Israel an “apartheid” state.
My fellow plaintiffs and I aren’t members of the union, but it imposes its tainted services on us, nonetheless.
New York’s Taylor Law cruelly forces us to accept this hate-infested union’s representation, even while the union’s members and delegates openly chant that they want to expel Zionists from the university.
That’s right — this union is supposed to protect our jobs, but it is doing its best to destroy them.
The union has just ratified a new contract, which will affect our terms and conditions of employment and the campus environment for Jews.
Despite the findings by multiple investigations — the US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, the report by Judge Lippman commissioned by New York’s governor, an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission determination — of the massive antisemitism problem at CUNY, the union has been silent on the issue, and so is the new contract.
Does the contract propose reforms that will protect Zionist Jews from the violence and harassment that we have suffered on campus? No it does not.
Does it rectify what I see as the expungement of Jews from senior leadership positions at CUNY? Not by my read.
Does it demand measures to prevent violent and campus-disrupting anti-Israel encampments? No — probably because the union defended them.
However, because the union has pushed us out of its membership by spouting hateful attacks against our religion and heritage, my fellow plaintiffs and hundreds of other Jews have zero influence over the contract’s details.
We’ve been driven out, then denied a vote on an agreement that affects our careers and our safety.
So much for democracy and a union’s duty of equal and fair representation of all groups.
Union officials don’t want Zionist Jews in their membership ranks? Fine. They shouldn’t be speaking or negotiating for us either. We don’t need or want their “representation.”
A similar conflict existed 3,500 years ago in Egypt.
A tyrannical Pharaoh abused Jews, treating them like an underclass and exploiting their labor — until someone stood up.
Moses made a famous demand of that unaccountable leader: Let my people go.
I say the same to the leaders of the Professional Staff Congress.
They don’t want us, but they are forcing us to labor under the conditions they set. And they have argued that representing every last professor at CUNY is “fundamental to a union’s power.”
By their own admission, they are demanding the right to represent Zionist Jews not for our benefit but for theirs.
Unfortunately, on Monday, the US Supreme Court denied our appeal to address this ongoing injustice, meaning our antisemitic union will remain free to enhance its own power by mistreating groups it considers to be undesirable.
The Court has chosen not to intervene, but that doesn’t mean our representatives can’t get involved. It’s happened before. Just ahead of a Supreme Court decision in 2018 that affected public employees’ rights, lawmakers passed a significant change to the Taylor Law. They should do so again.
And Congress has a role, too. If Federal legislators really want to address the evil and insanity that is transpiring on our campuses, they must recognize that Marxist and antisemitic faculty unions are behind so much of it. A powerful first step would be passing Senator Bill Cassidy’s (R-LA) proposed Union Members Right to Know Act, a bill that would prevent unions from promoting antisemitism and other hateful ideologies.
For our union at CUNY, after years of litigation and discrimination, it’s time.
Let my people go.
Jeffrey Lax is a professor of law and chair of the business department at CUNY, a co-founder of S.A.F.E. Campus, and a plaintiff in Goldstein v. PSC/CUNY.
The post Professor to CUNY’s Faculty Union: Let My People Go! first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Rubio Heads to Israel Amid Tensions Among US Middle East Allies
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to members of the media, before departing for Israel at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, US, September 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Nathan Howard/Pool
US President Donald Trump’s top diplomat, Marco Rubio headed to Israel on Saturday, amid tensions with fellow US allies in the Middle East over Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar and expansion of settlements in the West Bank.
Speaking to reporters before departure, Rubio reiterated that the US and President Donald Trump were not happy about the strikes.
Rubio said the US relationship with Israel would not be affected, but that he would discuss with the Israelis how the strike would affect Trump’s desire to secure the return of all the hostages held by Hamas, get rid of the terrorists and end the Gaza war.
“What’s happened, has happened,” he said. “We’re gonna meet with them. We’re gonna talk about what the future holds,” he said.
“There are still 48 hostages that deserve to be released immediately, all at once. And there is still the hard work ahead once this ends, of rebuilding Gaza in a way that provides people the quality of life that they all want.”
Rubio said it had yet to be determined who would do that, who would pay for it and who would be in charge of the process.
After Israel, Rubio is due to join Trump’s planned visit to Britain next week.
Hamas still holds 48 hostages, and Qatar has been one of the mediators, along with the US, trying to secure a ceasefire deal that would include the captives’ release.
On Tuesday, Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with an airstrike on Doha. US officials described it as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests.
The strike on the territory of a close US ally sparked broad condemnation from other Arab states and derailed ceasefire and hostage talks brokered by Qatar.
On Friday, Rubio met with Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani at the White House, underscoring competing interests in the region that Rubio will seek to balance on his trip. Later that day, US President Donald Trump held dinner with the prime minister in New York.
Rubio’s trip comes ahead of high-level meetings at the United Nations in New York later this month. Countries including France and Britain are expected to recognize Palestinian statehood, a move opposed by Israel.
Washington says such recognition would bolster Hamas and Rubio has suggested the move could spur the annexation of the West Bank sought by hardline members of the Israeli government.
ON Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed an agreement to push ahead with a settlement expansion plan that would cut across West Bank land that the Palestinians seek for a state. Last week, the United Arab Emirates warned that this would cross a red line and undermine the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords that normalized UAE-Israel relations in 2020.
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Netanyahu Posts Message Appearing to Confirm Hamas Leaders Survived Doha Strike
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a Plenum session of the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, in Jerusalem, June 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – In a statement posted to social media on Saturday evening, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the Qatar-based leadership of Hamas, reiterating that the jihadist group had to regard for the lives of Gazans and represented an obstacle to ending the war and releasing the Israelis it held hostage.
The wording of Netanyahu’s message appeared to confirm that the strike targeting the Hamas leaders in Doha was not crowned with success.
“The Hamas terrorists chiefs living in Qatar don’t care about the people in Gaza,” wrote Netanyahu. “They blocked all ceasefire attempts in order to endlessly drag out the war.” He added that “Getting rid of them would rid the main obstacle to releasing all our hostages and ending the war.”
Israel is yet to officially comment on the result of the strike, which has incurred widespread international criticism.
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Trump Hosts Qatari Prime Minister After Israeli Attack in Doha
Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani attends an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, following an Israeli attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, Sept. 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
US President Donald Trump held dinner with the Qatari prime minister in New York on Friday, days after US ally Israel attacked Hamas leaders in Doha.
Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with an attack in Qatar on Tuesday, a strike that risked derailing US-backed efforts to broker a truce in Gaza and end the nearly two-year-old conflict. The attack was widely condemned in the Middle East and beyond as an act that could escalate tensions in a region already on edge.
Trump expressed annoyance about the strike in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and sought to assure the Qataris that such attacks would not happen again.
Trump and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani were joined by a top Trump adviser, US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
“Great dinner with POTUS. Just ended,” Qatar’s deputy chief of mission, Hamah Al-Muftah, said on X.
The White House confirmed the dinner had taken place but offered no details.
The session followed an hour-long meeting that al-Thani had at the White House on Friday with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
A source briefed on the meeting said they discussed Qatar’s future as a mediator in the region and defense cooperation in the wake of the Israeli strikes against Hamas in Doha.
Trump said he was unhappy with Israel’s strike, which he described as a unilateral action that did not advance US or Israeli interests.
Washington counts Qatar as a strong Gulf ally. Qatar has been a main mediator in long-running negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and for a post-conflict plan for the territory.
Al-Thani blamed Israel on Tuesday for trying to sabotage chances for peace but said Qatar would not be deterred from its role as mediator.