A Missouri genetics professor claims he was fired after tweeting that Israel was conducting “a much-needed purge” after the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas.
Seth Crosby, who has taught at Washington University in St. Louis for more than two decades, apologized for his “clumsy words” and said Saturday he had been fired, deleting his account. The St. Louis Postal Service reported.
The university says he has not been fired but is investigating his tweets.
Julie Flory, a spokesperson for the university, told the newspaper on Sunday that the views expressed by Crosby do not represent the university, adding: “We are following up as appropriate in accordance with our policies and processes.”
Crosby began debating the conflict between Israel and Hamas online on Friday.
“It’s a much-needed cleansing, yes, but not ethnic cleansing,” Crosby tweeted.
‘Israel does not focus on people.’
Seth Crosby, who taught genetics at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, tweeted Friday that Israel was conducting a “much-needed purge” after the Hamas attacks.
Crosby said in subsequent messages that he was referring to a necessary “purge” of Hamas from Palestinian lands, according to The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
When met with a barrage of criticism and calls to remove the post, he responded: “I feel like I should leave it up… as an example?
“I destroyed myself, so there’s no reason to hide anything.”
When asked by a user how his call for a “much-needed purge” crossed X’s ethical standards, Crosby responded, “I don’t think it meets community standards.”
“I think I’m not only going to be fired from the University of Washington, I’m going to be banned from Twitter.”
He deleted his X account and LinkedIn on Saturday.
Aerial photo taken by a drone shows the destruction in the middle of Gaza City on Tuesday
Teams carry out search and rescue operations after Israeli airstrikes on a building in the Al Bureij refugee camp in Deir al-Balah on Tuesday
A Palestinian man injured in an Israeli airstrike is driven to Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday
The university did not respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.
The Missouri chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) condemned Crosby’s social media post.
“It is unconscionable that a professor at a Missouri institution of higher education would allegedly call for ethnic cleansing of any people group and attempt to dehumanize the target of this crime against humanity,” said Yasir Ali, chairman of the council of management.
University campuses have become the focus of angry protests since the October 7 attacks, with some pro-Palestinian students blaming Israel’s “apartheid” government for provoking the terrorists, and pro-Israel groups stunned by their response. fellow students.
A Berkeley law professor, Steven Davidoff Solomon, said students supporting the rallies and statements defending Hamas’ actions should not be accepted.
Harvard’s Arab Alumni Association has appealed for donations to help students’ mental health after they were subjected to “relentless bullying and intimidation” for blaming Israel for the October 7 Hamas attacks.
The Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee released a letter on October 7, co-signed by 33 other Harvard student organizations, stating: “We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime fully responsible for all the unfolding violence.”
The students leading the 33 organizations and the Solidarity Committee were singled out and faced calls to be blacklisted from future jobs. Among them was the son of British businesswoman Jo Malone.
On Wednesday, the Harvard Arab Alumni Association wrote a letter to members calling for help in supporting the students.
“They may need legal advice, health care, mental health support, financial assistance or mentorship to navigate these turbulent and uncertain times.”
Pro-Palestinian students marched through Berkeley on Monday carrying signs that read “Israel is a terrorist state.”
Berkeley students on Monday shouted: ‘Israel: you have blood on your hands’
Supporters of Palestine will meet at Harvard University on October 14. When the terrorist attacks were launched by Hamas on October 7, the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee issued a statement co-signed by 33 other Harvard student organizations, stating: “We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime fully responsible for all the unfolding violence’
Harvard students during the October 14 meeting on campus
The letter caused a huge backlash after 33 student associations supported the PSC’s statement “holding the Israeli regime fully responsible for all the unfolding violence.”
“They have been subjected to relentless bullying and intimidation,” the association wrote in a letter obtained by reporter John Hasson.
‘This situation is rapidly deteriorating as some students find their names on watchlists, posing serious risks to their immigration status and future career prospects.
“Our request and plea to all of you is to reach out to these students and provide the vital assistance they need, within your means and scope of influence.”
On the day of the attacks, a letter was sent from more than thirty Harvard student groups, informing Hamas terrorists of launching an attack from Gaza on a music festival near the border and nearby villages. Women and children were murdered in their beds, killing 1,300 people and taking an estimated 200 hostages.
“Today’s events did not occur in a vacuum,” the statement read.
“For the past twenty years, millions of Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to live in an open-air prison. Israeli officials promise to “open the gates of hell,” and the massacres in Gaza have already begun.
“In the coming days, Palestinians will be forced to bear the full brunt of Israeli violence. The apartheid regime is solely to blame,” the report continues.
Claudine Gay, Harvard’s president, said days later that the letter does not speak for the educational institution as a whole or its leadership. Her comments came after some criticized Harvard’s administration for taking too long to denounce the student letter.
She apologized again on Friday.
Gay said the university rejects terrorism, hatred and intimidation based on people’s beliefs while embracing free speech, even “views that many of us find objectionable and even scandalous.”
She wrote: “We do not punish or sanction people for expressing ‘objectionable or scandalous views.’
‘But that is far from endorsing it. It is in the exercise of our freedom of speech that we reveal our characters and that we reveal the character of our institution.”