On May 2, 2026, Rutgers University abruptly disinvited Rami Elghandour from the School of Engineering’s commencement ceremony, citing in part social media posts in which he made graphic and scarcely credulous accusations of sexual torture against Israel.
Forget a free ride. They’ve committed genocide. They’re running dungeons where they train dogs to sexually assault prisoners… Weapons embargo is the absolute minimum. Sanctions and diplomatic isolation are beyond justified. This we’ll sell them weapons won’t fly…
— Rami Elghandour (@RamiElghandour) April 20, 2026
Elghandour said the university’s decision had left him “heartbroken,” but declared his continued “commitment to human rights and American democracy.”
TV station WCBS invited a representative from the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to comment on the disinvitation. The CAIR spokesperson defended Elghandour by recasting his claims in much softer terms:
It’s not like any of his speech was hateful speech or bigoted speech. It was calling for an end to genocide, calling for human rights and accountability.
That is an extraordinary transformation. A specific, lurid accusation of sexual torture involving trained dogs became, in CAIR’s telling, a generic call for “human rights and accountability.”
The spokesperson added:
“I think this sends a clear message to the Rutgers community, to the community at large, about whose interests and whose comfort levels they take into consideration.”
PEN America also weighed in, publishing a statement entitled “PEN America Calls on Campuses to Uphold Free Speech Surrounding Commencement Speakers.” The organization wrote:
Sometimes speech takes us to new and uncomfortable places, but institutions must model resilience, tolerance, and engagement with speech, and resist reversing their choices in the face of discontent and pressure.
The statement made no mention of Elghandour’s specific allegations. That omission is notable given PEN America’s own recent struggles over Israel and Gaza. Under pressure from writers who accused the organization of failing to take a sufficiently anti-Israel position, PEN canceled its annual World Voices Festival in April 2024, and called off its awards ceremony after nearly half of the finalists withdrew from contention.
The “trained dogs” allegation rests upon an extremely shaky evidentiary basis. Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, a fiercely anti-Israel advocacy organization, promoted it based on anonymous detainee testimony:
The soldiers later pulled the young man sitting to my right, forced him to sleep on the ground, and tied his hands and feet. Suddenly, the occupation soldiers let loose trained police dogs on the young man, who was subjected to [rape]…
This is not a minor claim. It is not a slogan. It is not simply “criticism of Israel.” It is a specific factual allegation of rape and organized sexual torture. Anyone who repeats such a charge should be expected to provide evidence, and any newsroom airing it should tell viewers whether the claim has been verified, denied, disputed, or remains unsubstantiated.
Instead, Elghandour’s defenders framed the case as one of free speech and civil rights.
That framing fits a broader trend. CAIR has separately sought to expand civil-rights language around what it calls “Palestinian narratives.” Its 2026 report, The Right to Be Different, defines anti-Palestinian racism as “a form of anti-Arab racism that silences, excludes, erases, stereotypes, defames or dehumanizes Palestinians or their narratives.”
The phrase “or their narratives” is doing a great deal of work. It moves civil rights protection from people to the political narratives associated with them. That matters because it turns criticism, skepticism, or removal of a platform into possible discrimination against a protected group.
The Elghandour case illustrates the limits of that framing. The question is not whether pro-Palestinian speech is protected. It is. The question is whether protected speech creates an entitlement to a specific platform: a commencement stage, a university parade, or a private venue.
It does not.
Title VI exists to protect students from discrimination, not to elevate contested political claims into civil-rights doctrine. Free speech protects the right to speak; it does not guarantee an honored platform. Nor does it relieve speakers, advocacy groups, or journalists of the obligation to substantiate grave factual accusations.
David Lakatos says
Muslims practice Misogyny because Muhammad promoted it.
gravenimage says
Yep.
somehistory says
lies. It’s a breaking of law to lie to LE. If a regular citizen lies to Congress, that is a breaking of Law. (Congress people can stand on the floor in the Capitol and lie and it’s hunky-dory.)
Free speech is being ripped asunder by those who claim it when it suits them…..usually during lies or calls for murder….and want to deny it to others who disagree with the lies, and the calls for murder.
cair is a group of muzzies. Anyone the muzzies of cair support is an abuser of Free Speech (telling lies to support their evil) and a supporter of terrorism..
The members of cair should be investigated using RICO and all who fit the description in that Act, should be arrested, charged and tried.
Patton says
There is literally NOTHING in this world that is beneath moose slime scum. Through this piece of 💩 out of the USA and bolt the door behind him. Rutgers did the right thing here and frankly in so many cases they have failed to do so. Guess it has to sink to this level to get at least some academics, to get it through their thick skulls, what’s going on under their noses. F-it’s-scum and F-BHO too. This kind of crap started long ago, but it got much worse since America made the unforgivable mistake of electing that POS president.
David Lakatos says
Muslim reptiles. A bunch of nut jobs.
Bexarkat says
One must be human to deserve or demand “Human rights.” The Muslims of Gaza who participated in the Simchat Torah Massacre of October 7th, 2023, or supported those cretins who did, do not deserve the title “human.”
GE says
Can somebody tell me how you train a dog to “rape” somebody? Attack, yes, but rape? Doesn’t even seem biologically possible.
PS—none of the progressives I am acquainted with can answer my question. They just keep saying they don’t know, but it’s true—
somehistory says
GE, I’m guessing it’s thinkful wishing on the part of muzzies to be able to do that. It’ very much suits their depravity and feculent brains.
GE says
It’s scary how many people believe that—without proof?
somehistory says
Yes, I wonder daily what is wrong with so many.
gravenimage says
The original claim was just that Israel used dogs when dealing with Jihad terroists. The claim that they were trained to rape Muslims was added. Ugly and insane stuff.
gravenimage says
Hamas-linked CAIR turns graphic, unbelievable rape allegations into ‘human rights’ campaign
……………………………………….
Kidnapping and raping victims is not “human rights”. God, I hate Islam.
dumbledoresarmy says
Blood libel.
Incidentally: I just came across a very interesting article that, inter alia, described the main points made in a monumental scholarly study, ‘The Myth of Deir Yassin’ (2021) by one Eliezer Tauber, that simply blew to bits the conventional narrative about the so-called ‘Deir Yassin massacre’ (which is even now being spread all over the internets at the moment, as yet more ‘proof! proof! of the inveterate and perpetual evil of the Joooz). He shows that there is incontrovertible evidence that certain Muslim leaders and agitators at the time, notably Husayn al-Khalidi, *concocted* hysterical and extreme accusations of atrocities such as rape. Those accusations were false and known to be false. And… when the Arab High Commission published photos of mutilated bodies, claiming that they were victims of Jewish violence inflicted on inhabitants of Deir Yassin, “a Haganah intelligence man identified the bodies as actually being **Jewish victims of mutilation by Arabs**”. (I recall a similarly revolting piece of mohammedan propaganda being done much more recently – an image of a bloodied young man was circulated and claimed to be a ‘Palestinian’ victim of Jewish police brutality in Jerusalem, when in actual fact he was a Jewish lad who had been **attacked and beaten up by local Muslims** before being rescued by Israeli police…).
In light of what Tauber found – the Arab Muslim Big Lie that the bodies of their Jewish *victims* were the bodies of Arab Muslims killed by Jews (!!!) I have a horrible feeling that the Gazan Mohammedans when making recordings of their sadistic spree of torture-rape-mutilation-murder in southern Israel were not *merely* doing it for the delectation of their compatriots and ginning up support, nor even for terrorising the Jews and indeed any Infidels… they were *creating images* that they may well have intended to recycle, in future, as proof! proof! of *Jewish* brutality against… ‘Palestinians’.
somehistory says
Another idiot terror supporter speaks
“Clash erupts over ‘Sharia-free’ hearing”
“A tense exchange broke out after Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove challenged the premise of a “Sharia-Free America” hearing, arguing it stoked fear of Islam while overlooking homegrown extremism and abuse. The dispute put questions of religious freedom, national security, and political messaging at the center of a charged policy debate that has simmered for years.”
“Kamlager-Dove accused Republican members of elevating a narrative that paints Islam as a unique danger. She argued that doing so ignores data on domestic extremism and fails to address violence, coercion, and abuse that cut across ideologies and communities.
“Manufacturing fear around Islam” while “ignoring broader issues of extremism and abuse in America,” she said, sparks division and misdirects oversight.
Republican members defended the hearing’s focus, saying Congress must investigate any ideas that could fuel violence or threaten civil rights. They argued that scrutiny of extremist interpretations is a legitimate part of oversight, and insisted the goal is prevention, not prejudice.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/clash-erupts-over-sharia-free-hearing/ar-AA23iJGB
David Lakatos says
Democrats are no better than Muslims shouting ” Death to America.