From The Hartman Institute

Free Speech and Anti-Zionism at CUNY Law

How should we respond to speech that challenges our core commitments, beliefs, and even identities?

Fatima Mohammed acknowledges the crowd after speaking at CUNY School of Law on May 12 (Youtube screenshot; used in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright law)

In this episode, Yehuda Kurtzer unpacks recent events surrounding this year’s City University of New York (CUNY) Law School Commencement, during which commencement speaker Fatima Mohammed denounced the State of Israel and Zionists and commended CUNY for protecting her fellow students’ right to “speak out against Israeli settler colonialism.”

The events leading up to the speech, as well as the response to it both from the Law School and in the media, offer a gloomy prognosis for the future of discourse around Israel and Palestine. But what might it look like, he asks, to seek out real conversations with those who disagree with us—and do so vociferously—on the very issues that matter most to us? Listen here:

Identity/Crisis is a weekly podcast from the Shalom Hartman Institute about news and ideas.

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