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Columbia U Commencement Speaker Slams Israel for “Genocide” & University’s “Silence” On It; Mic Cut Off
Edited by: Fern Sidman
In a surprising turn of events at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health’s commencement ceremony on Tuesday, the class speaker’s microphone cut off multiple times during her speech, which sharply criticized both the university and Israel. According to a report that appeared on Wednesday in the New York Post, the incident, involving student Saham David Ahmed Ali, has sparked widespread discussion and controversy.
Ali, chosen as the class speaker, began her address by expressing her dissatisfaction with Columbia University’s stance on the ongoing Gaza conflict. Describing her experiences on campus as “dystopian,” she criticized the administration’s perceived silence and lack of action regarding what she termed the “genocide of the Palestinian people,” the Post report said. Midway through her hate filled address, her microphone appeared to malfunction, cutting off her words just as she was condemning the university’s silence.
Video footage from the event shows the microphone glitching several times, each interruption met with chants of “let her speak” from the audience. The information in the Post report indicated that despite these technical difficulties, Ali managed to continue her speech after a brief pause, ultimately delivering a 15-minute address filled with scathing critiques of Columbia University and Israel.
In response to the incident, a spokesperson for Columbia University stated that the audio issues were purely technical and unintentional. “The momentary loss of audio during the speech was an unintentional technical glitch,” the spokesperson told The Post. This explanation, however, has done little to quell suspicions among some students and observers who believe the interruptions were a deliberate attempt to silence Ali’s anti-Israel message.
Ali’s speech did not shy away from strong language and stark imagery. She described the emotional toll of walking through the university’s halls while witnessing what she called “the most televised genocide of our lives” on social media, as was reported by the Post. She lamented the disconnect between the administration’s reassurances and the grim reality she felt was being ignored.
Furthermore, Ali echoed the demands of the anti-Israel student group Apartheid Divest, which has been active on Columbia’s Morningside Heights campus for several weeks. The group has called for the university to divest from companies they believe are complicit in the occupation of Palestinian territories, as was indicated in the information contained in the Post report. Ali also advocated for the removal of NYPD officers from the campus and the granting of amnesty to students who were arrested during protests.
The incident has intensified ongoing debates at Columbia University regarding free speech, academic freedom, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Supporters of Ali argue that her speech highlighted crucial issues and called for necessary action from the university. Critics, however, view her remarks as divisive and potentially harmful to the university community.