Shirin Saeidi, a former University of Arkansas professor fired over her violent anti-Israel social media posts. (X)
Fired University of Arkansas professor challenges antisemitism law after losing her job for sharing violent anti-Israel posts.
By World Israel News Staff
A former University of Arkansas professor dismissed over social media posts praising Iran’s supreme leader and calling for Israel’s destruction has filed a federal lawsuit seeking reinstatement and the repeal of a state law requiring universities to combat antisemitism.
Shirin Saeidi, a tenured political science professor who previously directed the university’s King Fahd Center for Middle East Studies, is challenging Arkansas Act 721, which requires public colleges to incorporate the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism into their disciplinary policies.
The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Arkansas last week, alleges that the legislation violates constitutional protections for free expression by imposing restrictions on political criticism of Israel.
Saeidi was dismissed following a series of controversial statements and social media posts, including one calling Israel “a terrorist and genocidal state that must be dismantled.”
In December 2025, she reposted a message declaring, “Warm blood, brave one, thrust the dagger from Doha into the throats of the Zionists, so that all of them howl.”
The message was accompanied by smiling and approval emojis and the hashtag #FreePalestine.
Saeidi also expressed support for Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and submitted testimony in defense of Hamid Nouri, an Iranian official convicted in Sweden over his role in the mass executions of political prisoners in Iran in 1988.
University administrators began disciplinary proceedings in December, citing concerns about the nature of her statements and their potential implications for the institution’s obligations to address antisemitism.
A university faculty committee subsequently voted unanimously to recommend her reinstatement, but University of Arkansas System President Jay Silveria rejected the recommendation.
Silveria cited concerns that failing to respond adequately to allegations of antisemitism could jeopardize federal or state funding.
The university’s Board of Trustees upheld Saeidi’s dismissal in May.
Her new lawsuit challenges both the university’s decision and the constitutionality of Arkansas Act 721, which was signed into law by Republican Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders in April 2025.
The law requires universities to treat antisemitic harassment and discrimination in the same manner as other prohibited forms of discrimination and adopt the IHRA definition, including its contemporary examples.
Those examples include holding Jews collectively responsible for Israel’s actions, comparing contemporary Israeli policies to those of Nazi Germany and denying Jewish people the right to self-determination.
However, the legislation explicitly protects First Amendment rights and states that criticism of Israel comparable to criticism of other countries does not constitute antisemitism.
Saeidi’s attorneys contend that those protections are insufficient.
“This law is a really good example of a limitation on free speech disguised as equal protection,” attorney Badria Mryyan said.
The lawsuit alleges that the law is “unconstitutionally vague” and creates a disciplinary framework that discourages university employees from expressing unfavorable opinions about Israel.
It also accuses university officials, Republican state Senator Dan Sullivan, journalist Benjamin Weinthal and members of the Alliance Against Islamic Regime of Iran Apologists (AAIRIA) of participating in a coordinated campaign to secure Saeidi’s dismissal.
AAIRIA director Lawdan Bazargan rejected the allegations.
“The suggestion that there was some coordinated conspiracy among us is simply false,” Bazargan said.
She maintained that her organization had publicly raised concerns about Saeidi’s statements and academic conduct, but that university administrators and elected officials independently determined how to respond.
The 15-count lawsuit seeks reinstatement, back pay, financial damages and a ruling invalidating the state’s campus antisemitism legislation.
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