CUNY School of Law once again featured anti-Israel activity at its commencement ceremony on Thursday, allowing antagonistic student activity during its graduation events for the fourth straight year. 

Over a dozen new graduates unfurled Palestinian flags and signs while on stage at the United Palace Theatre receiving their diplomas to applause and cheering. 

One sign read, “CUNY divest from genocide now.” Another poster said, “resistance is the deepest form of love.”

While anti-Israel protests and speeches surged at university commencements nationwide after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks and amid the ensuing war in Gaza, CUNY Law — the only publicly funded law school in New York City — was already grappling with this trend years earlier. The school did not respond to a request for comment from Jewish Insider about this year’s graduation. 

In 2023, graduate Fatima Mousa Mohammed delivered remarks that were highly critical of Israel, the NYPD and New York City leadership in her student-selected address. “Israel continues to indiscriminately rain bullets and bombs on worshipers, murdering the old and young,” said Mohammed, a Yemeni immigrant who was a student activist involved with Students for Justice in Palestine. “It continues its project of settler colonialism expelling Palestinians from their homes.”

The year before, Palestinian-American graduate speaker Nerdeen Kiswani encouraged “the fight against capitalism, racism, imperialism and Zionism around the world” and condemned university administration for “normalizing” trips to Israel for students and faculty. Kiswani, who was also involved with SJP while a student, went on to co-found Within Our Lifetime, a radical anti-Israel organization that has engaged in antisemitic demonstrations including outside of New York City synagogues. 

In 2024, CUNY Law eliminated live student and faculty addresses at commencement, causing eight CUNY Law graduates to file a federal First Amendment lawsuit against the university. 

This year, when the school did not allow a student commencement speaker at all, Jewish Voice for Peace condemned CUNY’s decision, calling it “deeply perverse that an institution that prides itself on being the people’s university and loudly proclaims its commitment to student-centered learning would take steps to silence students at what should be a celebration of their achievements and future promise. This censorship displays a cowardly disregard for your students’ right to political expression. It also deeply damages CUNY’s reputation.”