CUNY professor rips graduation speaker's 'disgusting' anti-Israel, anti-police tirade: 'Worst' I've ever heard
CUNY law professor Jeffrey Lax said the speech's anti-Semitic rage was 'one step away from incitement of violence'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A City University of New York (CUNY) law commencement speech garnering attention for being "divisive" is now under fire from one of the institution's law professors who, aligning with other critics, called its anti-Semitic, anti-police and anti-capitalist rhetoric "disgusting."
CUNY law graduate Fatima Mousa Mohammed's May 12 speech honed in on dismantling systems of oppression in the U.S. including the military, police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), voiced support for anti-Israel efforts while accusing the nation of murdering Palestinians and called out the alleged unfairness of capitalist America.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CUNY Law commencement speaker Fatima Mousa Mohammed (Fox News Digital )
"May we rejoice in the corners of our New York City apartments and dining tables. May it be the fuel in the fight against capitalism, racism, imperialism and Zionism around the world," she said in part.
Jeffrey Lax, a law professor at the university, shared his disgust with Fox News' Trace Gallagher Wednesday on "Fox News @ Night," slamming the tirade as the worst graduation speech he has heard during his tenure.
"A lot of people like to talk about insurrection nowadays. This was one of the closest calls for an insurrection – actual insurrection – that I've heard in a long time," he said. "In my 20 years of doing this, this is the worst, most disgusting commencement speech I've ever heard."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Lax continued, shredding the speech's anti-Semitic message by saying Mohammad had "raged against an entire class of people."
New York City Mayor Eric Adams is among the number of people criticizing the controversial commencement speech. ((Luiz C. Ribeiro/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images))
"That is one baby step away from incitement of violence, and some academics might argue it is [inciting violence]," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Though Lax said law school administrators typically review commencement speeches before the ceremony and the contentious speech was no exception, administrators also alleged the actual speech deviated from previously reviewed drafts.
CUNY itself later condemned Mohammad's commencement speech as "hate speech," writing in a statement, "Free speech is precious, but often messy, and is vital to the foundation of higher education. Hate speech, however, should not be confused with free speech and has no place on our campuses or in our city, our state or our nation."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Outrage ensued from other directions after the ceremony, including from Jewish groups who now demand the law school lose funding in light of Mohammad's "vile" attack against Israel.
Mohammed's speech also garnered criticism from the likes of New York City Mayor Eric Adams, D., who also spoke at the ceremony held earlier this month.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Weighing in on Twitter, he wrote in part, "We cannot allow words of negativity and divisiveness to be the only ones our students hear."
Fox News' Yael Halon and Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.