The crowd at a Columbia University graduation ceremony burst into an outraged uproar after the speaker’s microphone appeared to turn off when she mentioned Israel’s deadly military campaign in Gaza.
Saham David Ahmed Ali, a candidate for a Masters degree in Public Health, was invited to make remarks on behalf of the graduating class at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health.
During her address on Tuesday, she talked about her experience as a Columbia student amid the campus protests opposing Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, which administrators ordered to be violently disbanded by police.
ADVERTISEMENT
“It feels dystopian to walk through Mailman’s halls everyday, scrolling through social media everyday, standing in our classrooms while I witness the genocide of the Palestinian people,” Ali said.
“The silence on this campus, and the pressure to say nothing while administration and professors assert ‘we are here for you,’ while we are actively witness the most televised genocide of our lives made me lose hope,” she said.
“Do they not see the decimation of the healthcare system in Gaza? The attacks on hospitals? Humanitarian workers? The mass graves outside of Al-Shifa hospital, found while we sat in our classrooms learning about—” Ali’s voice was cut off, as the microphone fizzled in front of her, appearing to turn off.
Ali pursed her lips, and cocked her head to the side, as the crowd in front of her burst into an uproar of indignant hollering. A moment later, she leaned down to speak into the microphone, which jolted back to life, only to turn off again a few seconds later.
As she stood quietly in front of her classmates and their families, a cheer began to grow throughout the audience. “Let her speak! Let her speak,” they cried.
After a moment she leaned down, and was able to resume her speech. “Whatever cause you have dedicated yourself to in this field… it is all intrinsically connected to other injustices in the world, including the liberation of the Palestinian people,” she said, calling for her fellow students to advocate for the victims of injustice in Sudan, Armenia, Tigray, Uyghur, Haiti, Yemen, Somalia, and Congo.
A spokesperson for the university denied that the microphone was cut off. “The momentary loss of audio during the speech was an unintentional technical glitch,” the spokesperson told the New York Post.
Online, Zionist critics have begun vehemently attacking Ali for her speech, claiming that she was attacking Jewish people by mentioning Israel’s campaign in Gaza, which has killed over 34,500 people.
Although Columbia president Minouche Shafik chose to cancel commencement, she has been unable to thwart student protesters who insist on standing up to their university. On Friday, a zip-tie wearing student protester tore up her diploma onstage. Columbia University is currently under federal investigation for allegations of anti-Palestinian racism.
