The Department of Justice says it is investigating an interfaith event at New York’s City College that took a startling turn when one of the invited speakers, an imam, turned on his Jewish counterpart for being a “Zionist” and ordered Muslim students to leave the room.

The incident occurred last Thursday at an “interfaith workshop” hosted by the student life office at Manhattan’s City College of New York. The event brought together Muslim, Jewish, and Christian students and was billed as an opportunity to “Delve into the history and current events of this multi-faith world” and examine “how are we different and where are our commonalities?”

The workshop opened with a 15-minute speech from an imam identified only as “Abdulla,” who lectured the audience about Allah’s all-encompassing power, including his hand in dictating students’ grades and paychecks, according to the Times of Israel, which reviewed an audio recording of the meeting.

The imam at times chanted prayers in Arabic and praised Sharia law, suggesting that harsh punishments like executions or amputating the “tips of the hands of a thief” were effective measures for curbing crime. “I’m talking about the elite, the filthy rich, the ones that continue to steal from people as we speak today. Those are the ones that deserve their tips to be cut off,” he said.

The Muslim representative then turned to the Jewish speaker, Ilya Bratman, a Hillel director for several CUNY campuses, stating: “I came here to this event not knowing that I would be sitting next to a Zionist, and this is something I’m not going to accept.” He went on to suggest that Mr. Bratman, as a Zionist, bore responsibility for civilian casualties in Gaza, drawing a round of applause from the audience.

The imam went on to address the audience directly: “If you’re a Muslim, out of strength and dignity, I ask you to exit this room immediately.” Roughly 100 Muslim students walked out, according to Mr. Bratman, leaving behind Christians and a handful of Jews.

The recording shows the event moderator, a CUNY chaplain, expressing shock at the turn of events. “I’m so surprised. I want to apologize for that,” he told the remaining students. “This group was supposed to remain respectful, and unfortunately, that didn’t happen.” He repeated: “So sorry, I’m in shock right now.”

The event continued, and campus safety officers escorted participants out of the building after it concluded. Mr. Bratman told the Times of Israel that he feared if the imam had told students to “attack this Zionist,” some would have obliged.

An account of the ordeal circulated online this week and caught the attention of the assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Justice Department, Harmeet Dhillon, who described the incident as “deeply concerning” and announced that the civil rights office “has questions and will look into this.”

The full identity of the imam and his affiliation with the university remains unclear. The university stated it had been made aware of the incident and was working to “investigate claims of possible discrimination,” affirming that it has “zero tolerance for acts of hate or bigotry of any kind and will promptly take all necessary and appropriate actions to address any such discrimination and remedy its effects.”