The disciplinary process is the same for Dr. Zaki Masoud’s glorification of terrorism and Dr. Benjamin Neel’s denunciation of it on social media.
By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
Two physicians have been suspended by a large New York hospital for their social media posts although one glorified Hamas for its October 7 massacre in Israel and one denounced it, The New York Post reported Wednesday.
“Dr. Benjamin Neel has been suspended from his role as director of the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center; and Zaki Masoud has been removed from service as a resident at NYU Langone Hospital-Long Island,” the medical center said in a statement. “We are following our investigative and disciplinary processes in both matters.”
Masoud had praised the Gazan terror organization’s slaughter of 1,400 men, women, and children, most of them in their homes or at a dance rave in the Gaza envelope.
““It’s time to be bold with your words,” the primary care physician wrote on Instagram last week. “Don’t hesitate to openly state your support of Palestinian resistance. Be loud & proud you’re on the side of justice.”
“Let them call it terrorism. Extremism. Barbarianism,” he added. “We call it liberation. Decolonization. Resistance. Revolution.”
Langone-Winthrop had reacted by posting that “This individual has been removed from service and a process leading to termination has commenced. We will not tolerate reprehensible statements condoning hatred or violence, which have no place at our institution. All employees are held to this high standard.”
The hospital had been told of Masoud’s comments on Friday by the StopAntisemitism group, which also posted a warning to X saying, “Jewish patients, specifically Israeli ones, must be kept away from this man @nyulangone.”
Cancer specialist Benjamin Neel’s alleged offenses included retweeting pro-Israel posts on X regarding the Hamas massacres, such as one that read, “You don’t have a ceasefire with Hitler. You wipe out Hitler. Think people.” He also shared posts praising Israel’s bombardment of Hamas military targets in the Gaza Strip.
In a brief note to Neel’s Cancer Center staff, Vice President of NYU-Langone Steven Abramson did not state any reason for the suspension. Neel himself told the Post he could not comment on the move.
A Change.org petition that was immediately organized for Masoud called his private post “peaceful,” claimed that his statements had “not promoted hatred or violence,” and said that he was merely exercising his right to free speech. By Wednesday it had gathered over 35,000 signatures.