A scuffle broke out between supporters and critics of the City University of New York’s plan to host Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour, an opponent of President Donald Trump’s agenda and a supporter of attempts to boycott Israel. The incident occurred Thursday night, May 25, outside the CUNY building in Manhattan, where activists against radical Islam, including Assemblyman Dov Hikind, a Brooklyn Democrat who is Jewish.
Earlier this year, Sarsour raised more than $100,000 to repair a vandalized Jewish cemetery in Missouri. But Sarsour also has been criticized for denouncing Zionism and tweeting a photo of a young boy with rocks in each hand facing Israeli police along with the words “the definition of courage.” “Why would CUNY have a commencement speaker who supports terrorism and believes in throwing rocks?” Hikind said at the rally. Sarsour said this year that supporters of Israel cannot be feminists. She favors a one-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a formula that many Jews believe would lead to the demise of Israel. In 2012, she tweeted “Nothing is creepier than Zionism.”