This is pro humanitarian involvement , not hate speech nor does it show antisemitism .
Just opposing Israeli actions as a country , not the Jewish people.
>He said he has previously been criticized for his social media posts by an Arcellx shareholder and
some social media users, and that he brought in a law firm to review his social media history, which the firm concluded contained no hate speech, violence or anything against his company’s code of conduct.
“I think [Palestine] is the moral issue of our time and I believe it’s been used to undermine democratic institutions in the US,” Elghandour said. He referred to the cancelled invitation as a sign or “erosion of free speech and the first amendment”<
Rami Elghandour tells Guardian in exclusive interview his speech was cancelled due to students’ complaints
www.theguardian.com
This isn’t a free speech issue, nor does it have anything to do with “pro humanitarian involvement” whatever that means. It is about choosing how best to create a memorable graduation commencement experience for a group of RU students.
If this incredibly successful RU grad was going to use the occasion to feed them this narrative:
“I think [Palestine] is the moral issue of our time and I believe it’s been used to undermine democratic institutions in the US,”
then it’s better RU finds someone else.
Palestine isn’t the moral issue of our time, it is an IQ test or more accurately a litmus test of how deeply flawed and narrative driven our higher educational institutions have become. How they have sacrificed truth for ideological bias and how this has led to decades of unnecessary suffering around the world.
I am a strong supporter of the state of Israel but not a blind one. My support is based on historically accurate facts reinforced by statistical facts.
For example, when the UN General Secretary said in 2021,
“If there is a hell on earth, it is the lives of children in Gaza today.”
I didn’t just nod my head and say Israel bad but rather I looked to see whether this was true because if it was true then my lived experience in Israel and understanding of the history of the conflict would need to be revisited. So, here is the reality. I’ll use 2022 statistics (pre October 7th Hamas attack) as a basic measuring stick.
In 2022 Palestinians had a higher life expectancy by nearly four years than the world average, an infant mortality rate that was less than 1/2 the world average and a literacy rate that nearly universal and that exceeded the world average by 10 points.
Life Expectancy:
Palestine: 76.7 Gaza 75.7; WB: 76.6
World Avg: 73.0
Arab Avg: 72.4
OIC Avg: 69.2
Infant Mortality Rate (per 1,000 live births): Palestine: 12.3 Gaza 13.0; WB 11.8
World Avg: 28.0
Arab Avg: 23.0
OIC Avg: 35.0
Literacy Rate: Palestine 97.8%
World Avg: 87.2% Gaza 98.1; WB 97.5
Arab Avg: 75.0%
OIC Avg: 73.0%
Added context:
Egypt: 70.2 life expectancy, 16.7 infant mortality, 72.0% literacy
Yemen: 63.8 years, 35.7 infant mortality, 55.0% literacy
Sub-Saharan Africa: 61.2 years, 46.5 infant mortality, 64.0% literacy
Lots of numbers, I know but bear with me.
Based on these numbers, if Yemen had an equivalent infant mortality rate as Gaza, 82k additional babies would have survived infancy in Yemen since 10.7.23. That equals roughly the entire death toll in the Israel/Gaza conflict.
So, explain to me how in 2022, Palestinians received $700 per capita in Humanitarian aid and Yemen received $100.
The hyper focus on Palestinians defies any logic other than the cesspool of Postmodernist, Deconstructionist, anti-western thought our higher institutions of learning are propagandizing our kids with.
The numbers hold true in every other historical measurement of human flourishing related to the Palestinians. If you look at the statistical achievements of Israeli Arabs in healthcare fields in Israel, particularly Arab Christians, the Apartheid narrative is so easily debunked but that doesn’t stop Western academics and NGO’s (yes, including Israelis) from spewing this garbage.
I don’t care whether this guy speaks at RU but is he some beacon of truth or paragon of virtue? A champion of Human Rights activism? If he is saying that Palestine is the moral issue of time, then the answer is no.
