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6-YEAR-OLD GIRL BRAVELY SAVES NYU LAW COMMENCEMENT WITH...

RUDY GIULIANI'S BIRTHDAY BASH ENDS IN CHAOS AS GUESTS SCREAM AND...

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6-YEAR-OLD GIRL BRAVELY SAVES NYU LAW COMMENCEMENT WITH HAND-DRAWN HEART AFTER
ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTERS REFUSE TO LEAVE STAGE: ‘SHE GOT THE BIGGEST APPLAUSE’

By Doree Lewak

Published May 18, 2024, 8:02 a.m. ET

A 6-year-old child taught thousands of adults this week a lesson in love and
respect.

NYU School of Law’s commencement Thursday in Madison Square Garden was marred by
hateful chants and Palestinian flag-waving protesters who refused to leave the
stage, but there was one shining light during the chaotic ceremony — little Eden
Rose Neiger.

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She bravely walked on stage with her graduating mom and raised a picture of a
heart she drew while sitting in the crowd amid the despicable din. 

The daughter of Devorah Neiger, flanked on stage by her two siblings, then
handed the heart — drawn in the school color, purple — to law school Dean Troy
McKenzie.

“The mood and energy completely changed – she got the biggest applause of the
whole ceremony,” said proud dad Edward Neiger.

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4
Eden Rose Neiger walked on stage with her graduating mom and held up a picture
of a heart she had drawn during the ceremony. FaceBook NYU School of Law

“There was tension in the room – you didn’t know what was going to happen next.
While some students disrupted the ceremony with symbols of hate, Eden drew a
purple heart as a symbol of love,” added the dad, whose family is Jewish and
pro-Israel. 

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The 10:30 am ceremony included keynote speaker, ex-Twitter exec Vijaya Gadde –
who reportedly played a key role in censoring The Post’s Hunter Biden story
before the 2020 election — and was plagued by disruptions as soon as grads from
the 900-student class filed into the 5,570-capacity Theater at MSG.

Some hoisted signs such as “NYU funds genocide.”

Other chanted “Disclose, divest – we will not stop, we will not rest” and “Over
40,000 dead, NYU, your hands are red.”

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Others refused to shake hands with the dean.

The anti-Israel antics were a continuation of the controversy that dogged the
elite school since Oct. 7, when the president of the school’s student bar
association said that Israel “bears full responsibility” for the savage Hamas
attack.

She was booted from the post in November.

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4
NYU School of Law’s commencement Thursday in Madison Square Garden was marred by
hateful chants and Palestinian flag-waving protesters. X @OldRowOfficial
4
Palestinian flag-waving protesters refused to leave the stage. Obtained by the
New York Post

At one point, McKenzie pleaded with a defiant student holding an oversized
Palestinian flag to leave the stage.

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“You made your point,” said the dean.

With that backdrop, Neiger whisked his kids, Eden, 6, Alexandra, 3, and son
Elisha, 1, to the back of the hall “out of earshot” and busied them with paper
and magic markers.

He told them to draw, hoping to “distract” them from the “hateful chanting and
displays so as not to traumatize them.”

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That’s when Eden began crafting her message to the dean, who had refused to bow
to the anti-Israel bullies.

“She got such resounding applause” in a day that was dominated by “darkness,”
said the mom, noting that the politically charged acts were “really jarring and
shocking.”

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“You just have to sit there and take it – you don’t want to stoop to that level,
even though every part of your body wants to stand up to them,” said Devorah
Neiger, who added that the artistic gesture was her daughter’s decision alone.

“We did not put her up to this.”

“We were worried going in that the kids would be scared” if protests arose
during the ceremony, said the mom, who in 2022, successfully fought to bring her
“banned” baby to campus for breastfeeding.

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4
“We did not put her up to this,” said Devorah Neiger, Eden’s mother. Courtesy of
the Neiger family

A rep from the law school declined to disclose whether there was any
disciplinary action or arrest of the rogue grads, who violated MSG’s rules
prohibiting signs, banners and flags.

“It’s regrettable that at yesterday’s JD graduation, a handful of protesters saw
fit to interfere with and delay the progress of the ceremony. They were asked to
refrain from their activities, and when they did not, they were escorted from
the stage, allowing the ceremony to proceed as planned,” the school said.

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As her children walked off the stage, little Eden told her mom, “That was kind
of brave of me.”

What do you think? Post a comment.

Judy Kayne, a Westchester teacher in attendance, was in full agreement.

“All of a sudden, this little girl gets up on the stage with her mother holding
a piece of paper with a big heart,” recalled Kayne, who said it elicited
standing ovations. “It was very powerful to me – the innocence of a child is all
you want in this world. It was beautiful – children don’t know about hatred.
That picture is sort of the answer to all of this hate.”


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Filed under commencements ,  graduation ,  Israel-Hamas war ,  nyu ,  5/18/24
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