CUNY speech was antisemitism

To the editor:

(re: “Disagreement isn’t antisemitism,” Aug. 10)

Ms. Zsa Johnstone-Mosher contends that Fatima Mohammed’s CUNY commencement speech simply expressed disagreement with Israeli policies.  Nothing could be further from the truth. 

Ms. Mohammed — along with Ms. Johnstone-Mosher, by spreading vicious falsehoods — are part of the historic defamation and incitement against Jews (“blood libel”). 

These days, the state of Israel — the ancient Jewish homeland that pre-dates Islam — is the chief target of worldwide anti-Jewish hate. The rebuilding of our homeland has nothing to do with “settler colonialism.”  Around 50 percent of Israeli Jews are people of color. Israeli hospitals welcome and heal all who need medical attention, including Palestinians and Arabs. Arabs participate in every level of society, including the government and judicial system.

While it is a misfortune that Israel must constantly defend itself from Palestinian terror attacks (more than 3,600 so far in 2023), Israeli military policy goes to great lengths and risks to avoid harming civilians. Israeli bombing targets are terrorists and their infrastructure that do indeed aim to kill any and all Jews — “children, women, and men” and often include “collateral damage” to fellow Palestinians as well as Arabs.

Alisa Eilenberg