CUNY commencement speaker calls for global intifada, murder of Israel-supporters

“I hope that a pop-pop [of gunfire] is the last noise that some Zionists hear in their lifetime,” Nerdeen Kiswani said.

By World Israel News Staff

An anti-Israel activist whose commencement speech at City University of New York sparked controversy said during her remarks that she is the victim of a Zionist conspiracy to silence her.

Nerdeen Kiswani was selected as the commencement speaker at the graduation ceremony for CUNY’s School of Law, a choice that drew backlash from Jewish groups concerned about her history of anti-Israel statements and past comments calling for the murder of Zionists.

Kiswani, the founder of pro-Palestine advocacy group Within Our Lifetime, has repeatedly called for the state of Israel to be destroyed, and recently liked an Instagram post praising the Palestinian terrorists who brutally murdered three Israelis with an axe in Elad.

Rather than acknowledging her critics’ concern over her membership in a group that calls for a “globalized intifada” and that her demonization of Israel has created an environment on campus that is not safe for Jewish students, Kiswani complained that she was being silenced for political reasons.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) reported that during Kiswani’s speech, which was focused on the Palestinian cause rather than the students, university, or field of law, she asserted that she was “facing a campaign of Zionist harassment by well-funded organizations with ties to the Israeli government and military on the basis of my Palestinian identity and organizing.”

Kiswani also took time during her speech to slam CUNY for an organized trip to Israel, which she said was “an affront to everyone fighting for liberation” at the school.

In July 2021, Kiswani advocated for the murder of people who support Israel. “I hope that a pop-pop [of gunfire] is the last noise that some Zionists hear in their lifetime,” she said.

“It’s one thing to have a political person who you don’t agree with,” a CUNY student told JTA. “But she calls for the actual murder of Jews. It’s really setting a precedent that CUNY is OK with having people in their school who are out to hurt us.”