GWU commencement student speaker banned from campus after going off script and giving pro-Palestinian speech

She looks like she stinks!

Wait till she finds out how absolutely unimportant she is in the real world.

Another like that Scandanavian brat, who told the world how horrible we are. Haven't heard from her since!

^^and what the fuck does have to do with anything? You should volunteer for the IDF as you have a nasty streak a mile wide. You'd fit right in in the current campaign.

Several years ago I read a story that the GW administration forced a student to remove a Palestinian flag from a dorm window.

It's cultic behavior. She's become so indoctrinated with antisemitic, anti-Israel propaganda.

Good for her. Why shouldn't she say something? Because she displeases some old queens here? Or do you enjoy playing into Dump and his MAGAt playbook?

banned? from what?

From Israeli politicians themselves:

[quote] The political leader, who is not a current member of Knesset, added that “a sane country does not fight against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not give itself the aim of expelling populations.”

[quote] banned? from what?

From The Hobby Barn, Rose.

Oh, for Christ's sake!

These dreary commencement speakers giving their pro-"Palestine", pro-Hamas graduation speeches are like this year's fucking Tickle-Me Elmos!

Enough! Go the fuck away!

This is what inevitably happens when that kind of antisemitic anti-Israel bullshit becomes commonplace.

R12. Yes. “Globalize the intifada” they said. This is the result.

Intifada means 'uprising' in the same way Zionism solely means a 'belief that Jews have a right to nationhood in their historic homeland.'

R12, being an idiot, confuses being against the policies of Israel with antisemitism, which no one buys except Zionists.

It’s not about you, honey.

Bitch should worry about her student loans. But I suspect mommy & daddy pay for everything.

Hey R16 and R17, guess what? A lot of Americans (and not just college students) despise Israel for what it's done, and that includes a lot of Jews I know.

You can despise what Israel is doing without hijacking your college commencement and making what’s happening in Gaza about you. (“I’m ashamed that my tuition dollars are funding genocide.”) No—they are not.

It’s possible to think Zionism, not Judaism is evil while having little sympathy for the uneducated, quickly brought to violence Palestinians.

I’ve just never seen any college students with this view. I fully understand why Israel will not give a ticking time bomb that borders them so closely statehood.

Nobody should use speeches like this to go off on political rants. I wouldn’t appreciate someone going off on a maga rant either

[quote] This is what inevitably happens when that kind of antisemitic anti-Israel bullshit becomes commonplace.

her speech led to those murders? But she didn't call for shootings.

That seems like quite an illogical stretch.

R20, you seem to blithely ignore what Israel has done to the Gazans before and after Oct 7.

What she will one day realize is that this moment wasn't about her.

Callow youth.

Plenty of callow adults on this thread as well.

[quote][R20], you seem to blithely ignore what Israel has done to the Gazans before and after Oct 7.

Like you blithely ignore what the Gazan government - Hamas - has done to Gazans before during and after October 7.

These rich white kids are so indoctrinated with race ideology they don't think dark skinned Muslims have any agency or accountability.

They feel guilty about being so rich and living on "stolen land" they don't fuck off back to Europe they cosplay as resistance fighters. So tedious.

[quote] Like you blithely ignore what the Gazan government - Hamas - has done to Gazans before during and after October 7.

R27, I blithely ignore nothing whatsoever about Hamas. First, Gaza does not equal Hamas. Second, Hamas is a terrorist organization cynically exploiting the desperate situation and the emotions of the Palestinians in Gaza for its political ends. Third, the Palestinians in Gaza are the victims of both Hamas and Israel. That's the most succinct and honest and accurate analysis of the situation.

But do by all means bang on about some misplaced idealism of some colleee graduate.

Her speech and the other ones are happening because of the immediacy of the issue, ie, lack of food and wanton killings of Palestinians. It's not because they want to publicize a pet issue. People in Gaza are starving NOW, non combatants are being targeted and killed NOW. The current Israeli administration has ratcheted up the violence and withholding of supplies/food because they've been given carte blanche by the US.

If college kids are not supposed to be speaking up about anything that doesn't directly affect them, then white students during the Civil Rights era should not have uttered a word about the abuse and terror suffered by blacks in the south, nor should any college students during WW2 have uttered a word about the Holocaust in Europe. Spoiler alert: this is what college students do and should do.

[quote]Hey [R16] and [R17], guess what? A lot of Americans (and not just college students) despise Israel for what it's done, and that includes a lot of Jews I know.

Do you know Cynthia Nixon?

There is a time and place to voice your political opinions. A commencement address may seem an appropriate moment to a narcissist, but it is not. As she well knew when she lied about what she was going to say.

You may want to present this woman as brave and speaking the truth to power, but actually she is simply stating a pretty conventional opinion about something not relevant to the occasion because she wants the focus on her.

Dear Sweet Jesus please take every single one of these spoiled self-important kids from every college campus in the US and send them all to Gaza so they can all bond with their beloved Palestinians.

Hey Cecilia - get ready for shouts of "Infidel whore!" as you're raped to death.

It might be brave to speak out for the voiceless—to bring attention to a cause that has not received the world’s attention i and that requires people to be educated.

That’s not what happened here.

This college student is not the problem, R32/R33/R34. Israel and Hamas are.

r35 they're ignorant kids who have been indoctrinated.

R36, just because you can't seem to think for yourself and are clearly biased toward Israel doesn't mean she and everyone else her age who are outraged by what's happening in Gaza should be quiet just because you don't like what they're saying.

Right. This woman’s take on a war that has received non-stop attention on college campuses for going on two years must be bravely communicated to an audience that did not come to hear it. Brava! She’s so brave.

r37 they're ignorant and have been indoctrinated with White Savior Complex for anyone who isn't white.

[quote] they're ignorant

And what's your excuse, R39?

So strange to see anti-Semitism at GW. Fifty years ago, it was one of the Jewiest places in DC. Its nickname was Jew-W-U (kind of like Jew-S-C or N-Y-Jew). The biggest freshman dorm was called the Embassy of Nassau County.

R41 is an adherent of the false notion that being anti-Israel policy is being anti-Semitic. You're not folling anyone.

*fooling

For those who consider this young woman's speech misplaced and out of context, it's just as ridiculous that there's all this commotion about it. A commencement speaker at some college provoking this level of outrage? You're as bad as she is.

Antisemitism is definitely in the mix of motivations for the intense focus on this war while actual genocides are widely ignored. After all, antisemitism is Hamas’s cause and backers of Hamas are major players in this movement.

But it is not likely the primary (or even partial) motivation for any particular individual, including this woman. They are entirely justified in looking at the Gaza war and being critical of the Israeli government on the basis of its behavior.

Both sides are right on the role of antisemitism here, but Backer’s of Israel who use antisemitism as a weapon to shut down the criticism of Israel are not doing any good.

None, r40. Some of us aren't blinded by ideology.

Right, R46--so you're clear-eyed about the crimes of Israel as much as Hamas, then?

I’m shocked, shocked I say, that the discussion in this thread has devolved into tiresome attempts at “rhetorical Gotcha” on both sides.

Her choice to use her spotlight moment to be a Gaza activist. GWU’s choice to punish her for it. Future employers’ choices to hire her or not, with this hanging out there.

I don't know how exactly she's being punished as she's already graduated, and as far as not being hired for having political opinions, that's clearly in violation of the First Amendment, so hopefully if that happens we'll see lawsuits.

I suppose R48 feels if you're gay and you're fired from your job or not hired because you're gay--oh well, that's the chance you take for being gay and out about it.

Yes, because sexual orientation that is inherently biologically wired and political opinions are exactly the same.

That's a completely nonsensical and untrue statement, R51. Sexual orientation is part of your biology and not something you decide, unlike political opinions.

r52 I was being sarcastic, in reference to r50's idiotic post.

But R53, there are attempts to pass laws to discriminate against gay people in housing and employment because they're gay. Do you not see that the First Amendment covers freedom of speech and expression, including the right to exist as gay without punishment and the right to have political opinions without being fired?

When I went to GWU the term JAP was common for Jewish American Princess and the front page of the Hatchet regularly had fear mongering stories about students and off campus males having sex in the restrooms of the student center.

JFC r54 I was responding to the poster who equated sexual orientation with political opinions.

That's me, dearie, R56. And the First Amendment covers both.

An employer can make up some bullshit excuse to fire or not hire a person r57.

The First Amendment protects us from government censorship . It doesn’t mean we can always say whatever we want at any occasion and have no consequences. In any case, it does not apply to GWU.

[quote]I suppose [R48] feels if you're gay and you're fired from your job or not hired because you're gay--oh well, that's the chance you take for being gay and out about it.

But being gay is not a choice, political opinions are. It's a false analogy.

In any event, she seems like an insufferable bitch regardless of her grandstanding about Palestinians.

R58, of course they can, and that's why lawyers were invented.

[quote] The First Amendment protects us from government censorship

Not exactly, R59. And what she said is completely covered by the First Amendment.

R60, tell that to the Repugs when gay people lose their jobs for being gay.

Heal the world

Make it a better place

For you

And for me

And the entire human race

There are people dying

If you care enough for the living

Make a better place for Palestinians and for me

I might add, R60, that in the minds of Repugs, being gay is a choice.

And it didn't help the people in Gaza one fucking bit.

r63 even many conservatives don't believe that shit anymore.

And they wonder why those of us in our 20s refuse to work an 80-hour week — just so we can afford to buy their BMWs.

Why we aren't interested in the counterculture that they invented — as if we di not see them disembowel their revolution for a pair of running shoes.

But the question remains:

What are we going to do now?

How can we repair all the damage we inherited.

Fellow graduates, the answer is simple.

The answer is…

The answer is…

I don't know.

And yet, R65, bills are being introduced to discriminate against gay people in housing and employment. Unless you think gays are immune in this MAGAt climate. I pity you, if so.

I want to face-slap the rank stupidity outta the poster who tried to imply that I think job discrimination for having chosen to grandstand for Gaza onstage at your college graduation ceremony is just like job discrimination for being gay.

Yep so similar. 🙄

QATAR

QATAR

QATAR

QATAR

QATAR

QATAR

QATAR

Well, R68, at least you admit it IS in fact job discrimination if used against someone with political opinions.

And I'd watch myself about wanting to slap people. You might just get bitch-slapped yourself.

Not everything is about [italic]you.[/italic]

R70, it’s definitely job discrimination, but 100% legal everywhere and more like due diligence on the employer’s part.

It’s similar to choosing not to hire somebody when you see past incendiary stuff they have posted on social media.

Sure, R72, obviously employers can often do what they want.

No R29, I completely disagree. Nothing in Gaza is going to change because of her words that day. She was not addressing the United Nations. How many worthy humanitarian causes could have been trumpeted that day? It's simply not the venue for this discourse. After four or more years of hard work and study, these graduates have deserved a culminating moment celebrating their achievement. Anything else is pure selfish aggrandizement.

Please. Your tuition isn’t invested anywhere. Your tuition doesn’t begin to cover the cost of your attendance at the university. What you are in fact complaining about is that the donations to the university that subsidise your attendance are incidentally and unavoidably invested in investments with some connection to Israel.

It would have been nice if you had made that more accurate claim, but I guess that wouldn’t make you feel good enough about yourself or garner as much attention.

You can now go about earning a living. The period of cost-free hypocritical idealism is now over for you.

She knows her audience is going to be divided on this topic. She should know that her words are not going to change anyone’s mind and that what she thinks about Gaza is of no concern to anyone listening to her speech. She has promised not to talk about the issue.

So—why do it? She, no doubt, would say her conscience “demanded” it. I, on the other hand, think this is about her ego.

It was self-indulgence.

[quote]Please. Your tuition isn’t invested anywhere. Your tuition doesn’t begin to cover the cost of your attendance at the university. What you are in fact complaining about is that the donations to the university that subsidise your attendance are incidentally and unavoidably invested in investments with some connection to Israel.

Yep, and not wanting Israeli investment is fair enough but these lovely women are free to speak up about Saudi or Qatari money but are for some reason very silent.

The speaker had a point and it was specific to the school so totally appropriate. She said she didn’t want her tuition money going to fund a genocide because NYU invested in Israel-supporting stocks,

[Quote] She knows her audience is going to be divided on this topic. She should know that her words are not going to change anyone’s mind

People said the exact same thing about gay rights and marriage. Why bring it up if it wouldn’t change anyone’s mind?

We know however that bringing it up a lot actually does change minds

Protest is usually only effective when done in the most unexpected places.

When football played took the knee, people complained that it wasn’t the right place and time. It shouldn’t have happened ant the game—instead it should have happened outside the stadium stadium

But the only way they were able to get their message across was to do it when the world was watching.

Kids these days. Would it have been so difficult to mention the other side, that Israel has a right to exist and to defend itself from terrorism (such as that of October 2023), then also say we should have sympathy for civilian victims of warfare in Gaza?

The school and Jewish donor/student bloc there overreacted as well. We have free speech in the USA - criticizing a foreign government for over-aggressively prosecuting warfare against refugee, mostly homeless civilians is not at all antisemitic.

Any upset those rich donors. No siree!

Who cares if thousands of people are being slaughtered? We need the money!!!!

[Quote] Would it have been so difficult to mention the other side, that Israel has a right to exist and to defend itself from terrorism (such as that of October 2023), then also say we should have sympathy for civilian victims of warfare in Gaza?

Not one protester has challenged Israel’s right to exist. Everyone says Israel’s response has been so out of proportion that it needs to stops. In fact, many of the right wing politicians say shit—openly fine with killing all the Palestinians and taking their land

If she had said “Israel is great and GWU should keep Investing,” would she have been thrown out?

Why not?

[quote]Not one protester has challenged Israel’s right to exist. Everyone says Israel’s response has been so out of proportion that it needs to stops. In fact, many of the right wing politicians say shit—openly fine with killing all the Palestinians and taking their land

Have you been in a coma? What do you think "From the river to the sea" means? It means Israel doesn't have the right to exist.

"Resistance by any means necessary"? It means kill the Jews.

"Intifada, revolution, there is only one solution"? It means kill the Jews.

"Decolonisation"? It means kill the Jews.

[Quote] Jewish donor/student bloc

The only reason GWU cares

[quote] People said the exact same thing about gay rights and marriage. Why bring it up if it wouldn’t change anyone’s mind?

Don’t bring any of it up at a commencement address.

Besides, talking about the gay rights movement moved public opinion in our favor. . The pro- Palestinian movement is alienating the public, not persuading it.

[Quote] Have you been in a coma? What do you think "From the river to the sea" means? It means Israel doesn't have the right to exist.

When the Likud Party used it as their motto, it then must have meant Palestine has no right to exist. Why was that okay?

[Quote] Besides, talking about the gay rights movement moved public opinion in our favor. . The pro- Palestinian movement is alienating the public, not persuading it.

That’s where you’re wrong. It’s making everyone wonder why Israel is trying to dictate American foreign policy and why we’re being forced to accept Israel’s actions

[quote]When the Likud Party used it as their motto, it then must have meant Palestine has no right to exist. Why was that okay?

No, it's not acceptable. Likud are cunts.

You think two years of protests have been effective? Doesn’t look that way to me.

The idea that we are being “forced” to accept Israel’s actions is antisemitism. The Christian Nationalists are the reason the US supports Israel, for their own purposes, not out of any love for Jews. Plus, American have been the targets of Muslim terrorism and have little sympathy for Muslim violence.

When are these kids going to get a clue? The only thing they’ve done with these protests is get Trump elected (thus ensuring the annihilation of Gaza).

They’ve been led astray by destructive forces and all they’re doing at this point is performative stunts to fuck up their own future.

This is what happens when you have a proud fascist in charge of the nation, even the lefties get emboldened with their antisemitism.

That strip of land was a total shithole when it was Palestine.

[quote]you seem to blithely ignore what Israel has done to the Gazans before and after Oct 7.

you seem to blithely ignore what Gazans/Hamas has done to the Israel before and after Oct 6.

So, R85, how do you feel about the Gazan people? They're not people? What should be done with them?

[quote] When are these kids going to get a clue? The only thing they’ve done with these protests is get Trump elected]

R92, "these kids" did not get Trump elected. A small number of Trumpers in swing states did.

[quoyte] This is what happens when you have a proud fascist in charge of the nation, even the lefties get emboldened with their antisemitism.

You seem to be confused, R93. You acknowledge a fascist is in power, and then you confuse the left, who have no power, suddenly "emboldened." And answer me this, how is being anti-Israel anti-Semitism? I expect an answer.

And what is it now, R94?

When was it ever Palestine, R94? When they actually owned it, before it was handed over to a budding Israel by the old imperialist owners, the UK?

R95, you seem to ignore Israeli rule over Palestinians before Oct. 7--by choice?

r100, that is not even close to what the history if the region is.

As a quick start, the original people of the Levant were the Jews. Israel IS Palestine and every Israeli is by default a "Palestinian". That is not a separate culture or people. Israel has for centuries had Arabic citizens. A nice class at the Learning Annex would serve your fanciful notions well.