Activist groups and a city council member have demanded CUNY Law grad, Fatima Mousa Mohammed, be denied the ability to practice law should she pass the bar exam on the basis of their belief she fails on "character and fitness" after the pro-Palestinian activist delivered a commencement speech at her graduation which critics blasted as "disturbing," "evil," and a "blatant call for insurrection."
"I ask that should she pass the New York bar, her admission be denied," NYC council member Inna Vernikov said in a letter to the NY Bar Wednesday.
A civil rights group called the Lawfare Project appealed to the New York Supreme Court, stating, "It's our belief that a person who has proved themselves to be a bigot is not fit to practice law," the Daily Mail reported Tuesday.
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"Mohammed has a history of publicly expressing prejudiced and discriminatory views, specifically demonstrating a profound animosity towards the Jewish community," the civil rights group continued in its letter. "These views are fundamentally incompatible with the ethical obligations and principles upheld by the legal profession and leave no question that Ms. Mohammed lacks the character and fitness to practice law."
The Zionist Organization of America similarly requested courts "disqualify Fatima Mohammed from obtaining a law license… because she lacks the requisite good character to become a member of the New York State Bar or any other state bar."
During her May 12 commencement speech, Mohammed called laws "White supremacy" and derided American agencies of law and order – referring to the military and the New York City Police Department as "fascist."
In another part of her speech, Mohammed, called for a "revolution" to challenge purportedly "oppressive" institutions.
She said, "Systems of oppression created to feed an empire with a ravenous appetite for destruction and violence. Institutions [are] created to intimidate, bully and censor and stifle the voices of those who resist."
She proceeded to speak out against the treatment of "Palestinian political prisoners like HLF in U.S. prisons."
HLF, or the Holy Land Foundation, was a Texas-based charity that "existed to support Hamas," a designated terror group by the U.S. State Department, according to the DOJ.
The Department of Justice convicted the defendants on material support of terrorism in 2009 after it found that "HLF intentionally hid its financial support for Hamas behind the guise of charitable donations" and "provided approximately $12.4 million in support to Hamas and its goal of creating an Islamic Palestinian state by eliminating the State of Israel through violent jihad."
The speaker also went on rants against Israel and Zionism, which critics called "raging antisemitism."
Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., said, "CUNY should be ashamed of itself — and should lose any federal funds it currently receives."
SAFE CUNY, an advocacy group, called the speaker a "Jew hater," adding the speech was "vitriolic," "evil" and a "blatant call for insurrection."
Mohammed said, "No one person will save the world. No single movement will liberate the masses. Those who brought the ferocity of the violence, those who carry the revolution, the people, the masses, those who brought the ferocity of the violence, those who need our protection. They will carry this revolution."
She added that a revolution was ongoing, but was not widely known.
"The revolution that lives so loudly despite not being televised. No longer are we going to capitulate to oppressors. No longer are we going to put our hope in their depraved consciousness."
NYC Mayor Eric Adams, who spoke at the graduation before Mohammed, said, the law grad delivered a "Vile anti-American and anti-Israel speech promoting hate."
After criticism erupted, which included demands the institution be stripped of some of its funding, CUNY released a statement calling Mohammed's address "hate speech," an escalation from its original statement to Fox News.
CUNY originally said, "[S]tudent speakers… offered congratulatory remarks and their own individual perspectives on advocating for social justice. As with all such commencement remarks, they reflect the voices of those individuals."
Mohammed did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Fox News' Joseph Wulfsohn, Yael Halon and Taylor Penley contributed to this report.
