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November 21, 2025
VIA EMAIL
Mr. Vincent Boudreau, President
The City College of New York
Dear President Boudreau:
On behalf of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), the oldest pro-Israel organization in the U.S., we urge you to finally, effectively address the disgusting display of antisemitism at an interfaith event sponsored by The City College of New York (CCNY) last Thursday, November 13, 2025. Presumably, the event was intended to bring people of different faiths together. But CCNY irresponsibly selected Abdullah Mady to serve on the panel of speakers who abused his podium to viciously attack and incite hatred of Jews. Shamefully, no one from CCNY intervened when this antisemite began delivering his hateful, appalling remarks. One week later, all of us are still waiting for CCNY to condemn Abdullah Mady and take full responsibility for hosting a failed, bigoted program and the damage it caused.
Abdullah Mady (a 2024 CCNY graduate) outrageously accused another panelist – the executive director of the Hillel at Baruch College – of being “responsible for the murder of his brothers in Gaza,” and expressed “disgust that a Zionist is here.” According to an audio recording of the program, Mady informed attendees that he “came to this event not knowing that I would be sitting next to a Zionist” – referring to the Hillel director – “and this is something that I am not going to accept.” Mady reportedly encouraged Muslim students to walk out of the program, which they did, cheering and exiting before the other panelists spoke.
CCNY’s Division of Student Affairs and Student Life and Leadership Development Office organized this interfaith program, but not one CCNY administrator or staff member intervened to put a stop to the disgusting, hateful tirade that Mady was delivering. Not one condemned Mady and his conduct as it was happening, nor did anyone make it clear to the attendees that Mady’s remarks were antisemitic and against the values of the school.
One week later, CCNY is still indefensibly silent, other than having issued some ineffective platitudes in response to media requests for comment. The silence must end. We urge you to take the following steps without further delay:
(1) Publicly condemn Abdullah Mady by name, and condemn his conduct at last Thursday’s interfaith program as antisemitic and against the values of CCNY;
(2) Publicly apologize to the Hillel director who was undeservedly attacked and maligned by Abdullah Mady and to CCNY’s Jewish community for the antisemitic tirade they endured because of CCNY; and
(3) Publicly take full responsibility for the disaster that occurred at last week’s interfaith program, which included (a) CCNY’s misguided decision to invite an antisemite to speak; (b) CCNY’s failure to vet Abdullah Mady before issuing a speaking invitation to him; (c) CCNY’s failure to stop and remove Mady immediately once he began his antisemitic attack and, on the spot, to condemn him and his conduct; and (d) CCNY’s unacceptable delay in effectively responding to last week’s debacle.
It is a shameful reflection on CCNY that your students do not view CCNY as a safe and welcoming place for Jews. Reportedly, as Muslim students exited the program last Thursday at Abdullah Mady’s urging, one student could be heard saying “That’s how interfaith goes at CCNY.” A Jewish student who attended the program reportedly said to the moderator, “You’re in shock? We’re not, we’re used to it.”
Those comments reflect so poorly on CCNY. If you care about restoring CCNY’s tarnished reputation, we urge you to exercise leadership and take the remedial steps we proposed without further delay. At a time of surging antisemitism in the U.S. and around the world, it is imperative that you respond to this ugly bigotry forcefully and without further delay, as you surely would and should if any other minority group were being targeted.
Very truly yours,
Morton A. Klein, National President
Jonathan Ginsburg, Managing Director, ZOA Campus
Susan B. Tuchman, Esq., Director, Center for Law and Justice
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