Graduating Jewish dad says ‘hate-filled’ speech upset his young children
Some people walked out and others booed Thursday when a Massachusetts Institute of Technology commencement speaker accused Israel of trying “to wipe Palestine off of the earth.”
Megha Vemuri, (pictured) the graduating class president, used her speech to urge alumni to advocate for the pro-Palestinian cause and demand the university cut ties with the “genocidal Israeli military.”
Her remarks prompted backlash both during the ceremony – with some shouting “shame,” booing, or walking out – as well as afterward online, Fox News reports.
Vermuri praised MIT’s undergraduate body and graduate student union for voting to cut ties with the “genocidal Israeli military” last spring, according to a video of her speech posted on X.
“You showed the world that MIT wants a free Palestine,” Vermuri said.
“You faced, threats, intimidation, and suppression coming from all directions, especially your own university officials, but you prevailed because the MIT community that I know would never tolerate a genocide,” she said.
She also charged graduates and alumni to “stand up for what is right” and keep advocating for the pro-Palestinian cause.
“We are watching Israel try to wipe Palestine off of the earth, and it’s a shame that MIT is a part of it,” she said, later adding that MIT is “complicit ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people, and so we carry with us the obligation to do everything we can to stop it.”
Afterward, a Jewish father who graduated from MIT described how difficult it was to listen to the “hate-filled” speech with his young children and parents.
“I finally got my PhD from @MIT, with my 5-year-old twins, my 2-year-old and my parents (children of Holocaust survivors) traveling halfway around the world just to be there,” Guy Zyskind wrote on X.
“My kids might not have understood every word, but they felt the fear and hostility, and kept asking questions from that point on. It was distressing for them, upsetting for us, and deeply distasteful for everyone else who came to celebrate,” Zyskind said.
Vemuri’s speech ruined what was supposed to be a day of celebration for all MIT graduates, including hundreds of Jewish families, he said.
“This is even more heartbreaking considering that just last week, a beautiful Jewish American couple was murdered in DC. Shame on MIT for allowing hate and division to overshadow a day meant for celebration and unity,” he wrote.
Another MIT Jewish student, Eyal Yakoby, also criticized Vemuri’s pro-Palestinian rant, calling it an “embarrassment” to the institution in a post on X.
BREAKING: The MIT graduation speaker used her entire speech not to highlight groundbreaking research—but to praise last spring’s violent encampment.
Our top universities have become breeding grounds for jihadism—not centers of academic excellence.pic.twitter.com/8k7zV4MTUV
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) May 29, 2025
Talia Khan, another MIT graduate student, criticized MIT President Sally Kornbluth for allowing Vemuri to “demonize Israel” during the ceremony.
“Nearly 2 years of antisemitic hostility—and still, Jewish students get silence while bigotry gets a mic. Shameful,” Khan wrote on X.
Similarly, MIT management Professor Retsef Levi said Kornbluth’s inaction failed the institution.
That @MIT trains woke minds that fail to see the only genocidal entity in Gaza is Hamas is known.
But to ignore warnings & allow the class president to deliver hateful & dividing speech with no response from President Kornbluth who followed, shows the gravity of the situation!… pic.twitter.com/yFiEm6Ql1o
— Retsef Levi (@RetsefL) May 29, 2025
MORE: SDSU professor’s social media post celebrates death of an Israeli by shark
IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: Megha Vemuri, MIT graduating class president, advocates for the pro-Palestinian cause during her commencement speech; Fox News, Retsef Levi/X
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