In retaliation for condemning the ongoing US-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza during his graduation speech, New York University administrators have announced they are withholding the diploma of student and actor Logan Rozos.

On Wednesday, Rozos, the 2025 NYU Gallatin commencement speaker, delivered a brief but powerful speech opposing the genocide in Gaza to thousands in attendance at the Beacon Theatre and millions more who have since viewed it online.

After greeting those in attendance, Rozos acknowledged:

I’ve been freaking out a lot about this speech, honestly, and as I search my heart today in addressing you all, my moral and political commitment guide me to say that the only thing that is appropriate to say in this time and to a group this large is a recognition of the atrocities currently happening in Palestine.

Following this humane and factual statement, the majority of the crowd erupted in loud applause that lasted over 20 seconds. The enthusiastic response reflected broader public sentiment: A Pew Research poll conducted in March found that 53 percent of Americans held a negative view of Israel, an 11-point increase from March 2022.

Notably, the share of US adults who hold a “very” unfavorable view of Israel has nearly doubled, rising from 10 percent to 19 percent. A resounding majority, 62 percent, oppose Trump’s plans to colonize and monetize the Gaza Strip.

Rozos continued his speech to loud cheers from many students and faculty, while a small segment of the audience jeered:

I want to say that the genocide currently occurring is supported politically and militarily by the United States, ... is paid for by our tax dollars and has been live streamed to our phones for the past 18 months. I do not wish to speak only to my own politics today but to speak for all people of conscience, all people who feel the moral injury of this atrocity.

And I want to say that I condemn this genocide and complicity in genocide.

Loud applause erupted once again, at which point Rozos concluded his speech, “Thank you to the class of 2025 and congratulations.”

Immediately following his speech, Zionist organizations and individuals with ties to the Israeli state launched a coordinated campaign against Rozos, accusing him of using his platform to espouse “antisemitic” views—a vicious slander routinely used to attack students and workers who oppose the ethnic cleansing, forced starvation and mass murder in Gaza, which began under Biden and continues under Trump.

Aviva Klompas, former director of speechwriting for Israel’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, retweeted the speech to her 300,000 followers on X, denouncing it as “an ignorant, self-indulgent tantrum.”

Similarly, the well-connected group End Jew Hatred (EJH), co-founded by attorney Brooke Goldstein of the Lawfare Project, issued statements across its social media accounts denouncing Rozos’ speech as “a ceremony of pure, unchecked Jew-hatred!!”

EJH demanded that the university “unequivocally condemn Logan’s speech as a violation of school policies” and insisted that “Logan should NOT be receiving a diploma.” Goldstein is a regular contributor to Newsmax and other far-right publications and has close connections to both Israel and the US state apparatus.

NYU immediately acceded to the demands of the far-right Zionist provocateurs. Shortly after Goldstein’s group called for Rozos’s diploma to be withheld, NYU spokesman John Beckman issued a statement declaring:

NYU strongly denounces the choice by a student at the Gallatin School’s graduation today … to misuse his role as student speaker to express his personal and one-sided political views.

The only truly “one-sided” position is that of Beckman, NYU administrators and the Democratic and Republican parties, who uniformly support the genocide in Gaza and the suppression of the democratic rights of those who speak out against war crimes.

For more than 19 months, both the Democratic and Republican parties have promoted the “big lie” that opposition to Israel’s genocide is equivalent to antisemitism. This campaign, like the genocide itself, began under the Biden administration and has continued under Trump.

Underscoring the censorious and increasingly police-state atmosphere permeating every aspect of society, Beckman complained that Rozos had allegedly “lied about the speech he was going to deliver and violated the commitment he made to comply with our rules.”

He added that the university is withholding Rozos’s diploma while it pursues disciplinary action.

The statement concluded by declaring that the university was

deeply sorry that the audience [which erupted in applause!] was subjected to these remarks and that this moment was stolen by someone who abused a privilege that was conferred upon him.

NYU’s decision to withhold Logan Rozos’ diploma is a vindictive attack on the democratic rights of students and workers everywhere. If students are barred from condemning war crimes and ethnic cleansing on university campuses—institutions that claim to uphold free speech and academic freedom—what is to stop the US government and private corporations from enforcing similar restrictions across all areas of public and private life?

In opposition to this assault on democratic rights, the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) in New York and New Jersey issued a statement on Thursday supporting Rozos and demanding that NYU immediately release his diploma.

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The statement read in part:

Beckman’s apology “that the audience was subjected to these remarks” is a cynical attempt to mask the student crowd’s enthusiastic applause.

Rozos’ statements—and the enthusiastic response they have received from students, workers and youth both at the event and around the world—demonstrate the broad and growing opposition to war and genocide in the US and internationally. But to transform this opposition into a force capable of ending the genocide and defending democratic rights, it must be directed toward the working class, the vast majority of the population.

It is only this social force—the international working class—armed with the lessons of history and the methods of class struggle that can put an end to the genocide in Gaza and its root cause: the capitalist system that gives rise to war, exploitation and dictatorship.