British-Palestinian high school student Leanne Mohamad recently won the Jack Petchy Speak Out Challenge with her moving performance of “Birds Not Bombs.”
However, a day after her speech, a panel of judges disqualified her from the so-called “biggest youth speaking event” citing that she had violated competition rules.
Mohamad’s empowering, yet highly controversial speech, describes the violent reality that many Palestinians face daily while living under Israeli military occupation.
