A fraud group called SUNY BDS took over the name of the state university system to spread anti-Israel propaganda about a month ago, and authorities have only recently condemned the group following an investigation by the Post.
A self-billed “community organization” that claims to represent all 64 branches of the State University of New York was faced with a cease and desist letter late Friday by the State University of New York’s attorneys. The hatred continues for weeks after the Post questioned why an unauthorized group made the exposure without its authority.
“This is how hate spreads to 64 universities at the same time. This is how hate begins,” enraged a critic of Gov. Kathy Hochul. The governor’s administration failed to censure the group, which lasted nearly a month before going after the Post.
“BDS” has become a highly controversial term meaning “boycott, divestment, and sanctions” and unfairly accuses the Jewish state of “occupying” and “colonizing” land. However, it is targeting Israel.
The SUNY BDS group, which describes itself as “SUNY students, staff, faculty, and alumni working to move New York State out of Israeli apartheid,” clearly does not recognize the existence of the Jewish state and refers to it as “Israel.” ” is called. , criticizing the sovereign state as a “colonial and genocidal national project of murderous settlers.”
A strong statement condemning the group, which was the subject of some news articles on the State University of New York campus. Finally got it in the post Friday from the governor’s office after The Post asked questions about the hate organization.
“To be clear, neither Governor Hochul nor the State University System of New York supports this organization or its mission,” Hochul’s representative said, adding that the governor “repeatedly condemns anti-Semitism in all its forms,” “We have taken significant steps to keep students safe,” he added, including launching a national initiative to combat hate crimes and spending hundreds of millions of dollars to protect schools, places of worship, and community centers. This includes investing in New York’s public universities and advancing a comprehensive plan to eradicate hate and bias at New York’s public universities. ”
SUNY officials also provided the paper with a cease-and-desist letter warning SUNY BDS against the state university system’s “use of intellectual property.”
“We have discovered that your unincorporated organization, SUNY BDS, uses images and other written references utilizing one or more SUNY trademarks,” said Senior Vice Chancellor and General Counsel for Legal Affairs. Kapil Longani said in a two-page letter. .
According to the letter, the groups have until Monday to “cease and desist from further use of the SUNY name, SUNY trademarks, and any other designations likely to cause confusion therewith,” and that SUNY has “unoffensive We will take a stand,” he warned. For intellectual property infringement. ”
Lane Filler, a representative for the State University of New York, added in an email to the Post: support israel In the face of terrorism and that it exists Anti-Semitism has no place At SUNY, today SUNY sent a cease and desist letter requesting that the use of the SUNY name immediately cease. ”
Hochul recently came under fire for making pro-Israel remarks during a lavish Jewish event and later retracting them, but on October 7, Hochul was attacked in Israel for a massacre by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. Since starting the Gaza war, he has been accused of lacking moral conviction. .
“Worse than the people behind SUNY BDS are the so-called leaders who continue to promise the Jewish community that they really care about anti-Semitism,” former New York City state representative Dav Hikind said. They are the people,” he said.
“It’s full of STs. There’s no real moral compass,” said Hikind, now a business owner. Americans against anti-Semitismempty lip service from leaders in the face of “this pathological, pathetic, out-of-control hatred of Jews.”
Meanwhile, SUNY BDS, in addition to promoting “boycott, divestment, and sanctions” measures against Israel; What triggered the refrain“From the river to the landscape, Palestine will be free,” is seen by many in the Jewish community as a call for genocide, targeting the State University of New York and Hochul himself.
in Instagram post on February 13ththe group accused the governor of trying to “illegally” block the controversial Justice for Palestine student organization. Suspended from Columbia University With “threatening rhetoric and intimidation” from the opening of the campus chapter.
a SUNY BDS letter calls for ‘divestment’ of state university system Participants from Israel gathered more than 2,000 signatures, including hundreds of anonymous signatures.
“SUNY has many connections to Israel and weapons manufacturers that support Israel’s oppression of Palestinians,” the letter said, adding, “Through SUNY Albany and Ben-Gurion College’s Homeland and Cybersecurity research partnership, SUNY has He is accused of being complicit in Israel’s “oppression” of Palestinians. In Israel, baseless claims.
There was no mention or condemnation of October 7, and “SUNY’s consistent refusal to acknowledge and condemn the Palestinian genocide and call for a ceasefire represents a failure in its mission.” Rant added.
“As long as SUNY maintains financial ties and partnerships with companies that directly support the Israeli state’s violent operations, we are complicit in the genocide of the Palestinian people.”
SUNY BDS did not respond to requests for comment from the Post.
