The Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), representing over 2,500 traditional, Orthodox rabbis in matters of public policy, today declared its support for the lawsuit brought by Benjamin Neel, MD, PhD, against his former employer, NYU Langone Health. A respected cancer researcher with an exemplary record and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, Neel used his private X account to share political cartoons condemning Hamas and the brutal October 7 attack on Israel. NYU Langone Health then terminated his employment, accusing him of “insidiously sharing racially and ethnically offensive posts on social media without regard for the potential impact on others.” CJV is proud to partner with X and Dr. Neel to challenge his termination.
“NYU Langone’s justification for firing a respected scientist and physician was shocking,” said CJV Southern Regional Vice President Rabbi Moshe B. Parnes. “Dr. Neel’s posts, quoting the Hamas charter, presented facts, not caricatures. He shared cartoons that mock the American cheerleaders for the bloodthirsty terrorists who slaughtered families, violated women and children, and burned babies alive, in a genocidal war against his people. The items shared by Neel have absolutely nothing to do with the race or ethnicity of the perpetrators—it is NYU Langone that associated these vile crimes with certain ethnicities.”
NYU also terminated the employment of a resident Zaki Masoud, MD. Masoud took to Instagram to praise the explosion of murder, torture, and rape, as “liberation,” “resistance,” and “revolution.” Yet, while Dr. Massoud was reinstated by NYU after being suspended, Dr. Neel was fired as director of Cancer Center.
Enjoy what you're reading? Subscribe for more!
“The false equivalence here is a disgusting example of moral cowardice,” observed CJV Vice President Rabbi Dov Fischer. “Masoud supported and encouraged the genocidal Hamas terrorist organization. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently said what is obvious before a joint session of the US Congress: ‘it’s a clash between barbarism and civilization. It’s a clash between those who glorify death and those who sanctify life.’ If medical professionals cannot tell the difference, it is they who need to find a new profession, not honorable people with a moral compass like Dr. Neel.”
Photo Credit: Ajay Suresh on Wikimedia Commons