A Yale professor is facing intense backlash on social media after she made several remarks that appeared to downplay the murder of Israeli civilians by Hamas and paint the Jewish state as an oppressive regime.
On Saturday, journalist Rachel Shabi tweeted, “Civilians are civilians are civilians, doesn’t matter where,” appearing to condemn the Hamas terrorist attack on Israeli men, women and children in their homes.
“Settlers are not civilians. This is not hard,” historical anthropologist and documentary filmmaker Zareena Grewal responded.
Grewal, who works as an associate professor of American studies, ethnicity, race, migration and religious studies at Yale University, previously published a book focusing on transnational Muslim networks that link U.S. mosques to Islamic movements in the post-colonial Middle East. She also created a film that examines the radicalization of Islam and the history of discrimination faced by Muslims before the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Her tweet about Israeli civilians was met with outrage after Hamas launched the biggest attack on Israel in years, leaving at least 1,200 Israelis dead as of October 11.
“The tweet below is from a professor at Yale and the context is babies being beheaded,” The Atlantic writer Thomas Chatterton Williams wrote in response to Grewal’s tweet. “Think about what happened to Erika Cristakis and @NAChristakis at Yale for simply suggesting college students should be able to reason through their own *Halloween costume* choices.”
Several users, including writer Noah Smith, called Grewal’s tweet “vile.”
“Yale professor proves it isn’t hard to be evil,” The Babylon Bee owner and CEO Seth Dillon wrote.
“She does say she’s a ‘radical Muslim,’” The Free Press writer Rupa Subramanya chimed in, referencing the professor’s X bio.
Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis’ rapid response director Christina Pushaw noted that Grewal is a contributor to the Washington Post, among other media outlets.
Grewal is also a contributor to the Huffington Post and The Islamic Monthly and has received several awards for her writing and research from the Fulbright, Wenner Gren and Luce Foundations.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a Yale University spokesperson referenced recent comments from President Peter Salovey, who condemned the attacks on civilians by Hamas and called on members of the community to “treat one another with compassion and to sustain a community of respect.”
“Yale is committed to freedom of expression and the comments posted on Professor Grewal’s personal accounts represent her own views,” the spokesperson said.
Grewal continued to post about the Israel-Hamas war.
On October 10, a Change.org petition was started to “remove” Grewal from the Yale faculty for “promoting lies and violence.”
The petition stemmed from several tweets and retweeted posts from Grewal’s account.
“My heart is in my throat. Prayers for Palestinians. Israeli [sic] is a murderous, genocidal settler state and Palestinians have every right to resist through armed struggle, solidarity. #FreePalestine,” she tweeted on October 7.
The following day, Grewal retweeted a news video detailing the initial Hamas terrorist attack alongside the caption, “It’s been such an extraordinary day!”
On October 10, Grewal reacted to an X post from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the words, “No government on earth is as genocidal as this settler colonial state.”
“There is no question who the oppressors are who the oppressed are,” she said in a follow-up tweet, “And somehow people are confused about this. White supremacy never stops being shocking to me.”
She also retweeted a claim that Israel has a “mad bloodlust” and posts that implied Israel supporters “woulda been posting ‘I stand with slave owners’ during rebellions.”
The petition to remove Grewal has already garnered over 16,000 signatures.
By Wednesday night the professor had made her X account private.
Grewal did not return Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
