CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Challenged By Demonstrator At U.S. House Of Representatives
/In a video first published by @PulseofPal on Instagram, a young female demonstrator was dragged out of U.S. House of a Representatives Committee on Education and Workforce hearing in Washington D.C. regarding “campus antisemitism” after shouting at CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos, who was testifying. The Pro-Palestinian demonstrator said: “How can you sit there talking about the feelings of Jewish students, when there are no universities left in Gaza? There’s blood on your hands! You are a genocidal war criminal!”
“How can you sit there talking about the feelings of Jewish students, when there are no universities left in Gaza? There’s blood on your hands! You are a genocidal war criminal!”
@CCNYSJP (Students for Justice in Palestine at the City College of New York) responded with more footage of the student’s message during the Congressional Hearing on “Antisemitism on College Campuses” from other angles. That footage has been republished in this arrticle.
Said @CCNYSJP: “We the students reject the conflation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism. While Congress and universities distract the public with their propaganda, our tax dollars and tuition continue to fund the genocide of the Palestinian people. While they sit discussing ‘feelings,’ there are no universities left in Gaza.
“We demand our students and faculty are reinstated. We demand divestment. We will not be silenced.”
“We the students reject the conflation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism. While Congress and universities distract the public with their propaganda, our tax dollars and tuition continue to fund the genocide of the Palestinian people. While they sit discussing ‘feelings,’ there are no universities left in Gaza.”
Prior to this hearing, SUNY BDS (Boycott, Divest and Sanctions) issued a press release stating their participation in a rally in NYC set to happen outside a summit that Chancelor Matos was supposed to be attending, but was “skipping the summit in order to capitulate to the federal government,” they said. “He will be in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, testifying before Congress that CUNY has sufficiently repressed Palestinian solidarity activism.”
This demonstrator was vocalizing at that hearing in Washington D.C. while SUNY BDS and CUNY students demonstrated against both chancellors in NYC. Read about their plans here.