Event at NYC public college features speaker who promotes antisemitic conspiracies
Featured guest at John Jay College recently shared posts pushing an array of anti-Jewish libels, previously said Zionist ‘devils’ have ‘evil in their hearts’
Luke Tress is The Times of Israel's New York correspondent.
NEW YORK — A student group at New York City’s public John Jay College of Criminal Justice on Thursday hosted a speaker on campus who has shared antisemitic conspiracies online in recent weeks.
John Jay’s Muslim Student Association hosted Sheikh Abdelraham Badawy in the campus’s student dining hall, the group said on social media.
John Jay is part of the City University of New York (CUNY), the city’s public college network. The Muslim Student Association is a recognized student organization, according to the college’s website.
In the past several weeks, Badawy has shared videos on Instagram mocking the Holocaust, saying Jews want to make non-Jews their slaves, justifying antisemitism, and promoted content from far-right figures with histories of antisemitism such as Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes.
One of the videos he shared attacked a New Jersey Jewish community for “scamming the system” by receiving welfare benefits.
“Antisemitism on the rise? Wonder why,” a caption on the video said.
Another video showed the Sesame Street character Elmo apologizing for saying that “Jews control the weather machines” and endorsing the antisemitic Elders of Zion. The character says, “Elmo knows the Holocaust is very real” and will “kiss the cuck wall in Israel,” referring to the Western Wall.
The video shows Elmo then walking back the apology after seeing a photo of a Palestinian child.
“Fuck that. How can Elmo be antisemitic if Jews aren’t semites?” the character in the video says to applause, before listing several antisemitic conspiracies. “9/11 — [Jews]. US Liberty — [Jews]. They’re ****ing children and blackmailing the government people wake up,” the video says.
Another post shared a video that accused “powerful Jewish financiers” of conspiring to foment the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, and that Jews assassinated the tsar’s family “in a ritualistic manner,” echoing the age-old antisemitic blood libel.
One post said a “Zionist CIA contractor” was trafficking children, two other videos said Jews will make “goyim” their slaves, another post said, “Goyim lives matter,” a far-right slogan, and others accused Jews of having sex with children.
The posts, all from the past three weeks, were shared as Instagram “stories,” which disappear after 24 hours.
In 2024, Badawy said at a New York community center that “the devils, the Zionists” had “the envy, the hatred, and just the evil that is in their hearts,” according to footage archived by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
During the same speech, he discussed an ancient Jewish tribe mentioned in the Quran, saying, “These people were cunning, they were conniving, they were foul, and you see the parallels today. They go after the women and children.”
It was not clear what Badawy discussed at the Thursday event.
John Jay told The Times of Israel, “Student-organized events do not reflect the views of John Jay College of Criminal Justice. John Jay is committed to open dialogue, academic freedom and free speech, while working to maintain an inclusive, discrimination-free environment conducive to learning.”
The student group did not respond to a request for comment. Badawy did not respond to a request for comment sent to the center where he is based on Staten Island.
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