May 11, 2007

2007 Convocation speech by Omer Granit (LL.M. '07) and
Rayan Houdrouge (LL.M. '07)

Omer Granit (LL.M. '07) (left) and Rayan Houdrouge (LL.M. '07) speak to their fellow members of the Class of 2007.

Granit: Rayan Houdrouge is my friend. He was born in Senegal and his father is a Shia Muslim Lebanese. He is from the southern Lebanese village of Qana that is tragically known for bombings in 1996 and 2006 that together killed 130 civilians.

My name is Omer Granit. I am an Israeli who served with the Israeli Defense Forces in southern Lebanon. I have lost many of my friends in conflicts between Israel, Lebanon and Palestine.

Rayan and I are both graduating from the NYU School of Law LL.M. Program. Before this year we didn’t know each other. We arrived at NYU last summer in the middle of the war between our respective countries. At that time, we were angry, frustrated and hopeless.

Houdrouge: Because of these strong feelings we took a somewhat defensive position and attitude when we arrived at NYU. We said to ourselves: “Enjoy the stay, improve your legal knowledge and try to take the most advantage of this experience. But keep your views for yourself; don’t share your opinions with others because you will waste your time; they won’t understand you.”

However, here at NYU, Omer and I have learned that we were totally wrong. In fact, during this year we have had the opportunity to truly express and discuss our ideas and perspectives with other people, even the least expected ones.

We deeply believe that all of the students of the LL.M. Program have learned during this year that NYU is an extraordinary community which is based on the diversity of opinions of its students and professors. Now we know that NYU is a community we belong to not because we share a common and uniform vision but because of the quality and uniqueness of our own visions. At NYU we are all together because we are all different.

Granit: The NYU experience is about possibilities; at NYU the world is in the hallways, it’s in the classrooms, it’s in the library, it is there for you to know, to discuss, to discover, to understand.

The NYU experience is the opportunity to attend a class on Islamic law with an Iranian teacher; the NYU experience is the opportunity to play on a soccer team with Brazilians, Germans, Japanese and Senegalese. The NYU experience is the opportunity to hear Henry Kissinger talking about transatlantic relations and Al Gore talking about the environment; the NYU experience is also the opportunity to go to the Fall Ball and have a drink with American J.D.s and debate burning issues.

Of course, these are only a few examples. However, they show what makes the NYU experience an extraordinary journey; it represents a unique chance to discover the other, to speak with him, to share with him and to start to better understand him. The NYU experience constitutes a fantastic tool to expose us to different opinions, ideas and perspectives; it presents us with this challenge to discover the other on a somewhat “neutral” ground, which allows us to free our minds, and the rest follows.

Houdrouge: During this year we have had to defend our positions, to argue and confront. And we believe that thanks to this confrontation, we now know more about ourselves, our qualities and our limits.

This year at NYU has been truly about building character, personality and friendships; it has helped us to enhance our goals and encouraged us to take our responsibilities. This year was a great legal experience; but it was also and perhaps more importantly a socially and politically stimulating experience.

We have met many people from all over the world and we have seen many differences among us. But at the same time we think that today we view ourselves less as citizens of a certain country and more just as humans with common fears, needs and objectives.

Now we are in a better position to understand the approaches and reasoning of people with other background and culture. And this is why today we are better legal professionals.

As to the conflict involving our countries and Palestine I must admit that Omer and I still disagree on a lot of points. But now we strongly feel that the crucial thing is sharing our respective experiences and visions because it is only through this that we will be able to find common grounds for solutions.

I won’t lie: we are still angry and we won’t forget what happened to my village; we won’t forget what happened to Omer’s friends; we won’t forget all the Israelis, Lebanese and Palestinians who died in the conflicts. But today we have hope because today we believe a discussion with the other is possible.