Canceled over Palestine: Biotech CEO Rami Elghandour on Rutgers Disinviting Him as Graduation Speaker

Two weeks before Rami Elghandour was expected to address newly minted engineering graduates at his alma mater Rutgers University, the CEO of biotech firm Arcellx received a shocking call from school administrators. Citing “vague” complaints about his social media posts on Israel and Palestine, the school abruptly withdrew its convocation invitation. We speak to Rami Elghandour about the decision, which he tells Democracy Now! he finds not only “heartbreaking,” but also illogical. “Having a different point of view is not harming these students in any way to lead to this sort of outcome,” he says. Elghandour, an executive producer of the Oscar-nominated film The Voice of Hind Rajab, adds that the silencing of pro-Palestine speech stems from a “false equivalency” between pro-Israel and pro-Palestine voices. “There are two sides, but they couldn’t be more historically different.”