Latest news with #Israel-bashing
New York Post
09-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Leaders of CUNY, other college antisemitism hotbeds to be grilled by House panel next month
CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez and two other college chiefs will be hauled before the House Education Committee next month to get grilled about the antisemitism that has festered at their schools. Rodríguez will join Georgetown University interim President Robert Groves and the University of California, Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons in testifying before the education panel July 9, officials said. The hearing will center around the role of 'faculty, funding and ideology' in fueling antisemitism on campuses and mark the second high-profile session the panel has had this year. The move comes after the panel's deep dive into antisemitism in non-Ivy League institutions last month. 'We continue to see antisemitic hatred festering at schools across the country,' said House Education Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) in a statement. 4 CUNY has been a hotbed of anti-Israel protests. Stephen Yang for NY Post 4 CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos is set to testify before the House Education Committee next month. 051525CUNYChancellor3wf 'While much of the discussion has focused on the devastating effects of antisemitism, this hearing will focus on the underlying factors instigating antisemitic upheaval and hatred on campus.' The City University of New York — the nation's largest public urban college system with 25 degree-granting institutions — has been dogged by complaints of antisemitism for years. An independent probe commissioned by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and released in September found that CUNY needed a top-to-bottom overhaul to combat 'alarming'' antisemitism fanned by its own faculty and do-nothing higher-ups. The state is the principal source of funding for CUNY's four-year schools, such as Hunter, and the Big Apple chips in to help pay for its community colleges. The governor and Mayor Eric Adams appoint the trustees to CUNY's policy-making board. There's been a spate of Jew-hating and Israel-bashing controversies since the latest Mideast war broke out Oct. 7, 2023. Just last week, The Post reported that the board chairman of CUNY's School of Labor and Urban Studies was forced to resign for spreading 'antisemitic conspiracy theories' about Israel. Anti-Israel agitators also brawled with cops at Brooklyn College last month after the protesters set up a tent encampment and disrupted final exams. An officer was forced to fire a Taser during the violent clash. 4 CUNY agitators have caused millions of dollars in damage. Anadolu via Getty Images In addition, last spring at City College in Harlem, anti-Israel criminals caused at least $3 million in damage and the need for costly extra security at the campus. Thus far, Rodriguez, first appointed in 2019, has weathered the storm. The board of trustees recently gave him a mostly positive job evaluation to continue leading the public university. Georgetown and Berkeley have faced similar issues amid anti-Israel demonstrations on campus. Last year, students and professors at Georgetown partook in a walkout to 'rally for Gaza' in demonstration against Israel's efforts to subdue the Palestinian terror group Hamas. In September, students gathered outside the building where the university president's office is located and chanted in favor of divesting from Israel. More recently, in April, the university's police were forced to pull multiple anti-Israel protesters out of a building after failing to heed demands to leave. Berkeley is meanwhile facing a lawsuit from Jewish groups accusing the university of allowing an 'unrelenting' slew of antisemitism to fester on campus. Infamously, the campus' chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine made an Instagram post that many interpreted as sounding sympathetic to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre of Israeli civilians. 'We support the resistance, we support the liberation movement, and we indisputably support the Uprising,' the group wrote shortly after the barbaric attack. Berkeley has been rife with anti-Israel protests since the inception of the war against Hamas. 4 House Education Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) is keen on complementing the Trump administration's efforts to crack down on antisemitism on campuses across the country. Getty Images Congressional Republicans on the education panel are hoping to dovetail with the Trump administration's broader efforts to crack down on antisemitism on college campuses. The Trump administration has withheld or threatened to withhold funding from colleges and universities that have not stepped up against antisemitism on campus. The Trump administration has also opened probes into antisemitism at several institutions of higher education. 'Until these factors—such as foreign funding and antisemitic student and faculty groups—are addressed, antisemitism will persist on college campuses,' Walberg wrote. 'Our Committee is building on its promise to protect Jewish students and faculty while many university leaders refuse to hold agitators of this bigotry, hatred, and discrimination accountable.'
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bloomberg allies throw support behind Cuomo's NYC mayoral bid — as ex-gov smashes fundraising record
Well-heeled allies of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg are throwing their weight — and their deep pocketbooks — behind Andrew Cuomo in New York City's mayoral race, The Post has learned. Cuomo's campaign announced Friday that it raised a record $3.9 million — and a top source revealed the donors include the former mayor's daughter Emma Bloomberg, who gave the $2,100 maximum contribution to the ex-governor's political comeback bid. Bloomberg's right hand Kevin Sheekey, who ran the billionaire's 2020 presidential bid and is a top exec at his namesake media company, also donated to the Cuomo campaign's kitty, the source said. Thomas Secunda — the billionaire co-founder of Bloomberg LP — gave $40,000 to the pro-Cuomo super PAC Fix the City, according to the source. 'The donations show warmth from the Bloomberg orbit and Mike,' the source said. With anticipated public matching funds, Cuomo will have raised roughly $8.28 million since announcing his campaign on Feb. 28. The donations illustrate the growing sense of inevitability swirling around Cuomo's mayoral run, as well as Bloomberg's likely misgivings about Israel-bashing state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, who has solidified a strong second-place standing in the Democratic primary race. Mamdani has been a vocal critic of Israel, to the point many Jewish activists consider antisemitic. The billionaire Bloomberg, by contrast, is a big backer of Israel. He recently donated $44 million to Israel's nonprofit medical service and this week visited the Charlotte R. Bloomberg Mother and Child Center, named after his mother, in Jerusalem. Cuomo holds a massive lead in the Democratic mayoral primary of 37%, with the Democratic socialist Mamdani behind with 18%, according to a recent poll. But Mamdani led among voters under age 45 — with 38% compared to 18% for Cuomo, according to the survey by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. The donations to Cuomo are also arguably a blow to Mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent as his political fortunes fell amid his now-dismissed federal corruption probe. Bloomberg, aside from some personal meetings with Adams, has largely steered clear of New York politics. The former mayor's financial network of loyalists is deep and wide, so it's likely other contributions will flow to Cuomo.
New York Post
23-05-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Bloomberg allies throw support behind Cuomo's NYC mayoral bid — as ex-gov announces $3.9M campaign fundraising haul
Well-heeled allies of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg are throwing their weight — and their deep pocketbooks — behind Andrew Cuomo in New York City's mayoral race, The Post has learned. Cuomo's campaign announced Friday that it raised a record $3.9 million — and a top source revealed the donors include the former mayor's daughter Emma Bloomberg, who gave the $2,100 maximum contribution to the ex-governor's political comeback bid. Bloomberg's right-hand Kevin Sheekey, who ran the billionaire's 2020 presidential bid and is a top exec at his namesake media company, also donated to the Cuomo campaign's kitty, the source said. Thomas Secunda — the billionaire co-founder of Bloomberg LP — gave $40,000 to the pro-Cuomo Super PAC Fix the City, according to the source. 'The donations show warmth from the Bloomberg orbit and Mike,' the source said. 3 Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo has raised $3.9 million in his mayoral run, according to his campaign. Michael Nagle 3 Several of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg's allies have donated to Cuomo. AP With anticipated public matching funds, Cuomo will have raised roughly $8.28 million since announcing his campaign on Feb 28. The donations illustrate the growing sense of inevitability swirling around Cuomo's mayoral run, as well as Bloomberg's likely misgivings about Israel-bashing state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, who has solidified a strong second place standing in the Democratic primary race. Mamdani has been a vocal critic of Israel, to the point many Jewish activists consider antisemitic. The billionaire Bloomberg, by contrast, is a big backer of Israel. He recently donated $44 million to Israel's nonprofit medical service and this week visited the Charlotte R. Bloomberg Mother and Child Center, named after his mother, in Jerusalem. Cuomo holds a massive lead in the Democratic mayoral primary of 37%, with the Democratic socialist Mamdani behind with 18%, according to a recent poll. 3 Bloomberg allies' backing of Cuomo could be a bad sign for Mayor Eric Adams. Andrea Renault/ZUMA / But Mamdani led among voters under age 45 — with 38% compared to 18% for Cuomo, according to the survey by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. The donations to Cuomo are also arguably a blow to Mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent as his political fortunes fell amid his now-dismissed federal corruption probe. Bloomberg, aside from some personal meetings with Adams, has largely steered clear of New York politics. The former mayor's financial network of loyalists is deep and wide, so it's likely other contributions will flow to Cuomo.
New York Post
19-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Campus rioters, antagonists boost NYC mayor candidate Zohran Mamdani's campaign with donations: records
Democratic socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani's campaign got a donation boost from Israel-bashing campus protesters and other rabble rousers — including antagonists arrested for rioting and other offenses, election records reveal. Mamdani has received 676 donations from either faculty or employees from left-leaning CUNY, NYU and Columbia University totaling more than $48,000, disclosures showed. 6 Mamdani has received 676 donations from either faculty or employees totaling more than $48,000. Tomas E. Gaston Advertisement Additionally, Mamdani has received over 1,351 donations from college students, totaling over $46,200, according to the records. Small donations get an eight-to-one match in public funds, so the pro-Palestinian, pro-Hamas crowd has given Mamdani a heaping of help. A leader of America's leading Jewish medical group said the donations to Mamdani are enough to make her sick, knowing that some of the donations are coming from people spewing Jew hatred at protests. Advertisement 'Some of the donors to Mamdani's campaign should raise red flags and be a clear message to all voters because those donors are people who have been at the center of anti-Semitic protests across the country,' said Yael Halaas, founder of the American Jewish Medical Association and a Columbia graduate. 'We must all stand up together and say enough is enough – we cannot tolerate this hatred and we must make our voices heard in this and every upcoming election.' 6 Mamdani has received over 1,351 donations from college students, totaling over $46,200, according to the records. Facebook/Zohran Mamdani 6 Some of the donors 'have been at the center of anti-Semitic protests across the country,' Yael Halaas said. Among the donors: Advertisement — Columbia doctoral-student-teacher Johanna King Slutsky — nicknamed 'Keffiyeh Karen' by The Post for infamously demanding that protesters who violently occupied and vandalized an academic building at the Ivy League school last year be given water and humanitarian treatment. King Slutsky donated $25 to Mamdani's campaign on Jan. 6, records showed. 6 Johanna King Slutsky donated $25 to Mamdani's campaign on Jan. 6, records showed. Seth Harrison/The Journal News / USA TODAY NETWORK King Slutsky declined comment when reached by The Post. — Eva-Quenby Johnson, a Barnard College employee who was arrested on May 7 for storming the Columbia University library, donated $25 to Mamdani's campaign on March 12. Advertisement She also co-runs The Phenomena Podcast, an 'exploration of the influence of ghosts on American culture & society,' where she classifies herself as a 'paranormalist.' 6 Eva Quenby Johnson donated $25 to Mamdani's campaign on March 12. Facebook/Barnard College She was one of about 80 masked radicals who were arrested by the NYPD after violently barging into the library as students prepared for final exams, injuring two campus security officers. A source familiar with Johnson's case said she was terminated and was no longer working at Barnard. — Gabrielle Wimer, a medical student at Columbia who was arrested in March after storming a library at affiliated Barnard College, donated $25 to Mamdani on Jan. 10. She could not be reached for comment. Jewish students expressed outrage after seeing her back on campus following a suspension. — Naomi Schiller, an associate professor of anthropology at CUNY's Brooklyn College who participated in the recent protest at the campus that erupted into a melee with dozens of people arrested, gave five contributions to Mamdani totaling $128. Advertisement 6 Naomi Schiller gave five contributions to Mamdani totaling $128. Brooklyn College Schiller also was arrested last fall for disorderly conduct for blocking an entrance to a CUNY Board of Trustees as part of a union contract protest. — Jennifer Koonings, an Astoria-based nurse practitioner recently heckled Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at her town hall in Queens, calling her a 'war criminal.' She is also a Mamdani donor, giving $50 last December. On social media Koonings refers to 'the Zionist colony called Israel' and joined in a 'Gaza Freedom Flotilla' last year that attempted to sail into Gaza to 'break the siege.'
New York Post
14-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Trump admin backs Jewish professor's discrimination case against CUNY school
The Trump administration filed federal court papers backing a Jewish professor who claimed she was subjected to a hostile work environment fueled by antisemitic, Israel-bashing protests at CUNY's Hunter College. CUNY-Hunter filed a motion to dismiss the civil rights lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court by Leah Garrett, chair of the Jewish Studies Center, saying the vitriol was protected by free speech under the First Amendment. But the US Department of Justice headed by Attorney General Pam Bondi intervened in the case Monday, filing a 'statement of interest' stressing the importance of abiding by the federal civil rights law that bars discrimination and subjecting employees and students in educational institutions to a hostile workplace. Advertisement 4 Leah Garrett of Hunter CUNY from her faculty profile with the Jewish Studies Center. 'CUNY Hunter may not simply rely on the First Amendment to avoid any scrutiny of whether it is liable under Title VI (Civil Rights law] for its failure to prevent disruptions that Dr. Garrett contends contributed to a hostile work environment,' the 26-page brief filed by the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said. 'The First Amendment does not prevent CUNY Hunter from regulating material campus disruptions that may contribute to a hostile work environment under Title VI [of the civil rights law].' Advertisement In her suit filed last December, Garrett ripped the public university's leaders for turning a blind eye to antisemitic demonstrations across its Upper East Side campus in the aftermath of Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 terror attacks on Israel. Garrett claimed the school allowed students to brandish posters with blood dripping from a Star of David and demanding Zionists be expelled. She also begged officials to cover up swastikas drawn on Israeli hostage posters around campus, claiming their hands were tied over bureaucratic and legal reasons, according to the suit. The Lawfare Project, the Jewish legal civil rights group representing Garrett along with the private law firm Alston & Bird, applauded the Justice Department's intervention. 4 A group of National Students for Justice in Palestine protest the filming an episode of CBS show, FBI: Most Wanted at Queens College of City University of New York (CUNY) on July 23, 2024 in New York City, United States. Anadolu via Getty Images Advertisement 'This is a critical moment in the fight against institutional antisemitism,' said Brooke Goldstein, founder and executive director of The Lawfare Project. 'The DOJ has made clear that public universities cannot look the other way while Jews are harassed, threatened, and silenced. This marks a turning point—federal civil rights laws apply to Jews, and schools that fail to uphold those protections will be held to account.' A Hunter College representative said the school cannot comment on pending litigation. 4 Protesters are pushed to the ground after blocking a CUNY security car from entering Brooklyn College during a pro-Palestine protest on May 8, 2025 in Brooklyn, New York. Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/Shutterstock Advertisement 'Hunter College has no tolerance for antisemitism or hate of any kind, and we're committed to fostering a safe and welcoming campus environment for everyone,' the spokesperson said. The rare intervention in a federal lawsuit is just the latest example of the Trump administration's aggressive crackdown on private and public universities that it claims are failing to stop anti-Israel protests that spew Jew hatred. Hunter is not the only CUNY campus in the crosshairs. 4 Leah Garrett of CUNY Hunter gives a talk on Mad Magazine in 2019. Last week, anti-Israel agitators brawled with cops at Brooklyn College after they set up a tent encampment and disrupted final exams. The melee drew outrage from Brooklyn lawmakers, who demanded CUNY brass take swift disciplinary action. Meanwhile, Trump's Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism announced Tuesday that it cancelled another $450 million in grants to Harvard University after it said the Ivy League school 'repeatedly failed' to quell race discrimination and antisemitism on campus. The president's campus monitors in March also scrapped $400 million in federal grants to Columbia University over the Morningside Heights school's 'failure to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment.' They're also threatening to revoke visas and deport foreign students who engage in disruptive protests and illegal activity.
