The Zionist Organization of America called on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to cancel "pro-terror" activist Linda Sarsour's planned commencement speech at the City University of New York's Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy graduation on June 1.
Morton A. Klein, ZOA's national president, and Susan B. Tuchman, director of the Center for Law and Justice, said in a ZOA statement that Sarsour was a "bigot and a divider" because of her past statements opposing Israel's right to exist and calling the country's president, Benjamin Netanyahu, "a waste of human being," and for reportedly supporting the Palestinian Arab terror war against Jews.
"It disgraces the state and city of New York for a taxpayer-funded university to confer this honor on her," they said of Sarsour's selection as a commencement speaker. "Sarsour was one of the organizers of the Women's March on Washington last January, but her feminism is selective and bigoted."
"… Please do all that you can to ensure that CUNY rescinds the speaking invitation to Linda Sarsour. There are many truly inspiring leaders worthy of the honor of speaking at a CUNY commencement. Linda Sarsour is not one of them."
Cuomo has stayed out of the controversy involving Sarsour, according to the New York Post on Tuesday.
"Commencement speakers at CUNY are selected independently by the individual campuses, and the Board (of Trustees) does not approve the process or have any say in the matter," Cuomo spokeswoman Abbey Fashouer told the Post.
New York Assemblyman Dov Hikind told WCBS-TV last week that Sarsour was unfit to speak at CUNY because of her support of Sharia Law and past tweets allegedly supporting violence. He pointed to a 2015 Sarsour tweet of a child with rocks in his hand and police in the background.
"She is someone who associates with radical Islamists; supports them; shows support for them," said Hikind. "She is someone who has said, clearly, she thinks throwing rocks at cars in Israel is a good thing."
CUNY chancellor James Milliken said on Wednesday he declined to take action on the graduate school's decision to invite Sarsour.
"While one might disagree with the School of Public Health's decision to invite Ms. Sarsour to speak at commencement, that difference of opinion provides no basis for action now," Milliken said in a statement. "Taking action because critics object to the content of speech would conflict with the First Amendment and the principles of academic freedom."
"This is not to say that the critics are wrong to call out statements with which they disagree. That also is the essence of the freedom we enjoy in this country and this university."
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