More Than 42K People Want Yale Professor Fired Over Anti-Israel Posts

NEW HAVEN, CT — A petition started by a Yale University student calling for the removal of a professor who apparently shared a tweet calling Israel "a murderous, genocidal settler state" in the wake of the Israel-Hamas conflict over the weekend has since received nearly 42,000 signatures.

Hamas, which has ruled the Palestinian Gaza Strip since 2007, launched an attack inside Israel over the weekend, killing hundreds and taking others hostage while seizing settlements. Its unprecedented breach of the border sent fighters inside border communities and military installations, shocked Israel and its allies, and raised questions about the group's capabilities and strategy.

"Prayers for Palestinians," Zareena Grewal, a Yale associate professor of American studies, ethnicity, race, and migration, and religious studies, wrote in the tweet that sparked controversy Saturday. "... Palestinians have every right to resist through armed struggle, solidarity."

Other contested statements apparently made by Grewal on X, formerly known as Twitter, include that "no government on earth is as genocidal as [Israel]." The petition also calls out several posts that appear to have been reshared by Grewal, including one that called one of the days of the attack "such an extraordinary day."

Grewal's account is currently set to private mode, so it is not clear if any of the tweets or reposts are still up. However, they have been archived via screenshots by many people, including Yale class of 2025 student Netanel Crispe, who started the petition.

In the description of the petition, Crispe wrote that "speech that promotes, advocates, or supports violence, murder, or terrorism cannot and should never be tolerated."

"Freedom of speech cannot be abused," Crispe continued. "And when one is in a position of authority and power, they must be held responsible for that speech."

Also this week, a New York University law student who also serves as president of the Student Bar Association lost a job offer from a law firm after sending out a newsletter saying Israel "bears full responsibility" for the Hamas attack.

The U.S. State Department designated Hamas a terrorist group in 1997. The European Union and other Western countries also consider it a terrorist organization.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.