News - Middle East: US students at a prominent New York university have denounced a decision by a city council member to remove funds allocated to providing free legal services to the community.

The decision to pull $50,000 in funding came after the City University of New York School of Law faculty members endorsed a boycott resolution in support of Palestinian rights. 
Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, a Ukrainian-born Jewish Republican representing parts of Brooklyn, pulled the funding last week, describing the faculty members' endorsement of the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement as "antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment."

The Jewish Law Student Association at the university, however, denounced Vernikov's move, saying it fit "squarely within the intimidation and harassment tactic that pro-Israel activists rely on".

"Vernikov's latest campaign to smear our community joins a legacy of manufactured backlash which is not rooted in reality," a member of the student association toldMiddle East Eye (MEE).

Nerdeen Kiswani, a Palestinian-American activist and a graduate of the School of Law told MEE that Palestinian rights defenders would not be intimidated by the racist Zionist New York council members like Vernikov.

“We will not be intimidated by these pathetic gestures from city council members. Plenty of racist Zionist council members have tried to stop the movement for Palestinian liberation but they have failed and will continue to fail," Kiswani told MEE.