{"id":100791,"date":"2026-05-06T15:29:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T15:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/100791\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T15:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T15:29:09","slug":"rutgers-university-cancels-rami-elghandours-graduation-speech-over-israel-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/100791\/","title":{"rendered":"Rutgers University cancels Rami Elghandour’s graduation speech over Israel criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Rutgers University has canceled a planned graduation speech by business leader Rami Elghandour after some students raised concerns about his criticism of Israel on social media.<\/p>\n

Elghandour, the CEO of biotech company Arcellx and an alumnus of the New Jersey university, had been set to give the May 15 convocation address at the Rutgers School of Engineering. <\/p>\n

That invitation was rescinded after the university learned that \u201csome graduating students would not attend their graduation ceremony due to concerns about the invited speaker\u2019s social media posts,\u201d a Rutgers spokesperson said in a statement. <\/p>\n

The spokesperson declined to specify the offending posts, but confirmed they were focused on Israel. Elghandour did not respond to a message seeking comment. <\/p>\n

Elghandour frequently shares news articles and footage of violence in Gaza and the West Bank, along with his own commentary accusing Israel of committing war crimes and upholding a system of apartheid.<\/p>\n

He also served as the executive producer of the \u201cThe Voice of Hind Rajab,\u201d a documentary about a 5-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed by Israeli Defense Forces. <\/p>\n

The cancellation comes as the springtime commencement season ignites yet another round of debate<\/a> about student protests against the war in Gaza, which have roiled U.S. campuses in recent years and led to canceled speeches<\/a> and disruptions<\/a> during graduations. <\/p>\n

Earlier this week, the University of Michigan publicly disavowed<\/a> a commencement speech delivered by Derek R. Peterson, a history professor, that briefly lauded pro-Palestinian student activists. <\/p>\n

That speech sparked threats to strip the university of funding from Republican officials and donors, who said the comments created a hostile environment for Jewish students. The university president\u2019s subsequent apology has drawn condemnation from academic and free-speech groups. <\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Elghandour shared a clip on X of Peterson\u2019s speech at the University of Michigan, along with his own caption: \u201cMost people choose convenience. Professor Peterson chose principle. True leadership. Much respect.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Rutgers University has canceled a planned graduation speech by business leader Rami Elghandour after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[719,2371,35219,328,21605,35220,948,2254,197,2437,37,1874,1494,35218,782,2773,6905,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-100791","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-2024-2025-mideast-wars","9":"tag-2024-2026-mideast-wars","10":"tag-arcellx","11":"tag-business","12":"tag-colleges-and-universities","13":"tag-derek-r-peterson","14":"tag-education","15":"tag-gaza-strip","16":"tag-general-news","17":"tag-inc","18":"tag-israel","19":"tag-new-jersey","20":"tag-protests-and-demonstrations","21":"tag-rami-elghandour","22":"tag-u-s-news","23":"tag-war-crimes","24":"tag-west-bank","25":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116528346816814165","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}