Photo by Screenshot

By Jacob Kornbluh May 24, 2022

A Georgetown University student carrying a Palestinian flag refused to shake the hand of Secretary of State Antony Blinken Saturday after she received her diploma.

Video of the scene shows the graduate, identified as Nooran Alhamdan, shaking her head as Blinken reached out to shake her hand. She then shook the hand of another person on the dais. Blinken delivered the commencement address for the 2022 class of the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

@FreedomNews tweeted that Alhamdan had withheld her hand to honor Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed on May 11 while covering a raid in the occupied West Bank for Al Jazeera. Palestinian authorities say she was shot by an Israeli soldier. Israel has said that it is unclear whether the bullet came from an Israeli soldier or a Palestinian militant. The veteran journalist is now honored as a martyr to the Palestinian cause. Her funeral became a political event, and was disrupted by Israeli police.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Palestinian American student carried the Palestinian flag and refused to shake the hand of US Secretary of State Blinken during a graduation ceremony, in honour of slain Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh

Video by Robert Cox TalkOfTheSound (FNTV https://t.co/RkvKn04ZzY) pic.twitter.com/o7OhUYqgA2

— FreedomNews.Tv FNTV (@FreedomNTV) May 24, 2022

Blinken spoke with the family of Abu Akleh after condemning Israel’s use of force at her funeral and offered U.S. support.

The Palestinian Authority has refused to cooperate with Israel in a joint inquiry or turn over the bullet from Abu Akleh’s body.

The student tweeted after the event that she was “proud to have refused” Blinken’s handshake “and to have reminded” him of the Palestinians’ cause.

“They have the tanks, we have the clocks.” This motto taught to me by one of my most supportive professors at Georgetown. @SecBlinken justice for Shireen Abu Aqleh and all Palestinians. I am proud to have refused your handshake and to have reminded you of our existence. https://t.co/NbUrbL1KZX

— Nooran A. (@nooranhamdan) May 22, 2022

She also posted pictures of several other students with keffiyehs draped around their shoulders and holding up posters that read: “Resistance until liberation and return. We honor martyr and journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.”

Last week, a group of 57 members of Congress, making up 25% of the House Democratic caucus, signed a letter to Blinken and FBI Director Christopher Wray urging an independent investigation into the killing of Abu Akleh.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount