ST. LOUIS 鈥 A Washington University professor said he was fired over the weekend for a social media post that purportedly called for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
The social media post was condemned during a protest in downtown 狐狸视频 on Sunday that called for the end of violence in the Gaza Strip. The protest drew more than a thousand people.
But a spokeswoman for Washington University said that the professor, Seth Crosby, was not fired, that he remains employed but the university is 鈥渇ollowing up.鈥
Crosby said Friday on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that the attacks by Israel on Palestine were a 鈥渕uch needed cleansing, yes, but not an ethnic one. Israel is not targeting humans.鈥
Crosby in subsequent posts said that he was referring to Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that launched attacks into Israel last weekend, killing hundreds. Then on Saturday, he said on X that Washington University had fired him. He later apologized on X before his account was deleted.
Crosby did not respond to a request for comment on Sunday.
Washington University spokeswoman Julie Flory said in an email on Sunday that the opinions Crosby expressed do not represent the university.
鈥淲e are following up as appropriate,鈥 she said, 鈥渁ccording to our policies and processes.鈥
Crosby has spent nearly 20 years at the Washington University School of Medicine, most recently as director of research collaborations for the department of genetics, according to his LinkedIn profile.
His faculty pages on Washington University鈥檚 websites had been scrubbed by Sunday afternoon.
More than 3,000 Palestinians and Israelis have been killed since Oct. 7, when Hamas militants stormed into Israel, killing hundreds and taking dozens of others hostages. The attack prompted retaliatory strikes by Israel on the Gaza Strip and resulted in a war that has destroyed entire neighborhoods in Gaza, displaced thousands of Palestinians and increased tensions in the Middle East of a broader war.
The Missouri chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned Crosby鈥檚 social media post in a statement.
鈥淚t is unconscionable that a professor at a Missouri institution of higher education would allegedly call for the ethnic cleansing of any population and would seek to dehumanize the target of that crime against humanity,鈥 said CAIR-Missouri Board Chair Yasir Ali.
CAIR-Missouri, Muslim-Americans for Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace and others led a protest for Palestine on Sunday afternoon at Kiener Plaza in downtown 狐狸视频.
More than 1,000 marched through downtown, calling on American leaders to urge Israel to stop shelling Gaza and halt plans to invade the densely populated strip. The Associated Press has reported Israeli air strikes killed more than 2,600 people, according to the Gaza health ministry, including hundreds of children.
Organizers in 狐狸视频 said Sunday that civilians were being killed indiscriminately in what was the beginning of a genocide.
鈥淪top the killing,鈥 said Muath Salameh, an organizer with Muslim-Americans for Palestine. 鈥淪top the genocide.鈥
Hani Mohsen, 56, said he lost sleep in recent days after seeing images of women and children being killed, in both Israel and Gaza.
But U.S. politicians and media were focusing on Israeli casualties and largely silent on the killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, he said.
鈥淚nnocent people shouldn鈥檛 be used for revenge,鈥 said Mohsen, who is originally from Lebanon. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want any innocent civilians to be killed anywhere.鈥
CAIR-Missouri called on the international community to intervene to prevent an unfolding humanitarian crisis.
鈥淲e have a responsibility as human beings toward our fellow human beings,鈥 said Komel Choudhary, secretary of CAIR-Missouri. 鈥淧alestinian children who are unable to even comprehend what is happening to them are getting bombs dropped on them.鈥
Choudhary said the professor鈥檚 social media post was part of a broader wave of hate against Muslims. CAIR-Missouri told people at the rally experiencing racial prejudice or Islamophobia to contact the group, which advocates for Muslim-American civil rights.
鈥淓ven professors at prestigious institutions right here in 狐狸视频 have voiced negative and dehumanizing remarks about Palestinians,鈥 Choudhary said.
In 狐狸视频 County, about 200 people attended a rally Sunday in support of Israel outside the Jewish Federation Building.
Universities nationwide have become a hotbed of student protests and free speech conflicts in the last two months 鈥 and 狐狸视频 campuses hav…
"I am here to support mankind," said Mohammad Salameh, who holds his son, Jawad, 3, during a rally at Kiener Plaza demanding the end of the war in Israel on Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023.
鈥淪top the killing, stop the genocide,鈥 said Muath Salameh, an organizer with Muslim-Americans for Palestine, who chants 鈥淔ree Palestine鈥 while marching with more than a thousand people through the streets of downtown 狐狸视频 demanding to end the war in Gaza on Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023.
Seth Crosby said Washington University fired him for making an anti-Palestinian post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, on Oct. 13, 2023. The post has since been deleted.