CUNY Graduate Blames Israel for Los Angeles Wildfires in Anti-Semitic Online Rant

CUNY Graduate Blames Israel for Los Angeles Wildfires in Anti-Semitic Online Rant

Edited by: Fern Sidman

Fatima Mousa Mohammed, the controversial City University of New York (CUNY) law school graduate who made headlines for her fiery anti-Israel commencement speech earlier this year, is once again at the center of outrage. This time, as reported on Saturday by The New York Post, Mohammed is drawing connections between Israel’s military actions in Gaza and the wildfires currently ravaging Los Angeles, an assertion that has been widely condemned as inflammatory and baseless.

On Wednesday, Mohammed took to X (formerly Twitter) to share her contentious views following the outbreak of devastating wildfires in Southern California that have forced nearly 130,000 residents to evacuate. In her post, Mohammed wrote: “Dropping hundreds of thousands of tons of bombs on Gaza, turning it into a blazing inferno, has consequences that extend beyond our moral condemnation — there are climate consequences that will find us all.”

An anti-Israel activist who gained infamy when she used her commencement speech to bash the State of Israel is at it again, this time blaming Israel for the wildfires that have devasted much of Los Angeles over the last week, the New York Post reported.

Fatima Mousa Mohammed… pic.twitter.com/WsM6uSnsTw

— Netanel Worthy – נתנאל וורתי (@NetanelWorthy) January 12, 2025

Her comments, which appear to link Israel’s military actions in Gaza to climate events in the United States, were met with criticism for their speculative and incendiary nature. In a subsequent post, Mohammed elaborated: “You cannot care about the quality of rain falling in one part of the world while ignoring the rain of fire you help fund in others. The climate crisis will only worsen, and our complacency will only fuel the flames.”

As the report in The New York Post highlighted, these statements follow a pattern of provocative rhetoric that has defined Mohammed’s public persona since her infamous May commencement address.

Mohammed first garnered national attention in May 2023 when she used her graduation speech at CUNY Law School to launch a scathing attack on various institutions. She called for a “revolution” to confront what she described as the legal system’s “white supremacy,” labeled city police officers and the U.S. military as “fascists,” and demanded an end to Zionism. Her speech drew sharp rebukes from local leaders, including New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and sparked a heated debate over free speech and the boundaries of academic discourse.

The New York Post dubbed her “Stark Raving Grad” in a front-page feature on May 30, a headline that Mohammed has since embraced as her profile photo on X. Her latest remarks seem to extend the rhetoric of her commencement speech, conflating geopolitical issues with environmental crises in a way that critics argue is inflammatory and unfounded.

Mohammed’s comments come as multiple wildfires continue to devastate Southern California, destroying homes, displacing thousands, and stretching emergency response teams to their limits. The gravity of the situation has only amplified the backlash against her posts.

“The flames of Gaza will not stop there, they will find us all if we don’t stop them … None of us are spared in the eye of the empire,” Mohammed warned in another post, as reported by The New York Post. Her use of metaphorical language tying the wildfires to “empire” has been interpreted as a critique of U.S. foreign policy and its alliance with Israel.

However, many have denounced her assertions as divisive and an exploitation of a natural disaster to advance a political agenda. Critics argue that her remarks undermine the gravity of the climate crisis by politicizing it inappropriately.

The response to Mohammed’s statements has been swift and overwhelmingly negative. Community leaders, activists, and social media users alike have condemned her comments as inflammatory and insensitive to those suffering from the immediate impacts of the wildfires.

“This kind of rhetoric does nothing to help the victims of the fires or address the real causes of climate change,” one critic wrote on X. “It’s a distraction that fuels division instead of fostering understanding.”

The New York Post report noted that Mohammed’s comments also risk further alienating those who might otherwise support her broader advocacy work. Her polarizing style, while garnering attention, has often drawn accusations of undermining constructive dialogue on important issues.

As The New York Post continues to document, Fatima Mousa Mohammed remains a deeply polarizing figure. Her tendency to intertwine geopolitical grievances with other global crises has brought her significant attention but has also made her a target for criticism.

Whether her latest remarks will have any tangible consequences for her or her advocacy work remains to be seen. For now, her controversial statements have reignited debates about the boundaries of free speech, the role of activism in addressing global crises, and the responsibility of public figures to use their platforms responsibly.

As California grapples with the ongoing wildfire disaster, Mohammed’s comments serve as a stark reminder of the contentious intersection of politics, activism, and tragedy.