{"id":2196832,"date":"2024-03-11T17:52:02","date_gmt":"2024-03-11T21:52:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mit-faculty-member-goes-on-anti-semitic-tirade-after-house-ed-committee-requests-documents-from-school\/"},"modified":"2024-03-11T17:55:26","modified_gmt":"2024-03-11T21:55:26","slug":"mit-faculty-member-goes-on-anti-semitic-tirade-after-house-ed-committee-requests-documents-from-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mit-faculty-member-goes-on-anti-semitic-tirade-after-house-ed-committee-requests-documents-from-school\/","title":{"rendered":"MIT faculty member goes on anti-Semitic rant following House Ed Committee&#8217;s document request"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmit-faculty-member-goes-on-anti-semitic-tirade-after-house-ed-committee-requests-documents-from-school%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2196832&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><blockquote>\n<h2>\u2018I want\u200d to make it clear that Chairwoman Virginia Foxx \u2026 is a \u2064treasonous Zionist\u200b tool,\u2018 says Afif Aqrabawi<\/h2>\n<figure><figcaption>\n<p>      \u2063   \u200d  MIT postdoctoral associate Afif Aqrabawi (Twitter)<br \/>\n    <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div>\n<p>A Massachusetts Institute of Technology\u200b faculty member went on an anti-Semitic\u200c tirade after the House \u2064Committee on Education and the Workforce pressed the \u2062school to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wake-up-call-house-subpoenas-harvard-for-stonewalling-anti-semitism-probe\/\" title=\"House subpoenas Harvard over anti-Semitism probe stonewalling\">provide internal documents<\/a> about its response to the outbreak of \u2063anti-Semitism on campus.<\/p>\n<p>A postdoctoral associate <a href=\"https:\/\/tonegawalab.mit.edu\/members\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">working\u2063 in<\/a> MIT&#8217;s Tonegawa neuroscience lab, Afif Aqrabawi, \u2063derided the committee chairwoman, Virginia\u2063 Foxx (R., N.C.), as &#8220;a treasonous Zionist tool, a \u2063genocide enabler, and a \u200ddisgusting\u2062 shit stain of \u2062a human,&#8221; and described other members of the House as &#8220;Israeli bootlickers.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Aqrabawi also referred to American politicians as &#8220;loyal prostitutes of Netanyahu,&#8221; lamented the influence of Jewish political groups, \u2064and referred to Israelis as &#8220;parasites.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I\u200d make \u200cit \u2062clear your representatives are eager \u200dcucks for defense\u2063 contractors and AIPAC,&#8221;\u2063 he <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ajaqrabawi\/status\/1766568682078064746?s=12&#038;t=cVRrOEC7HqoeeefgDh4iIA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote<\/a>. &#8220;My words are dangerous \u2063because they may alert \u2063a \u200bdistracted American public to the parasites using their country as a host species.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Aqrabawi\u2019s tirade came in\u200c the wake of a letter from Foxx to MIT president Sally Kornbluth that\u2063 panned Kornbluth\u2019s response to several anti-Semitic incidents on campus and pressed \u200dthe school to provide internal documents shedding light on its policies and code of conduct.<\/p>\n<p>The committee\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/edworkforce.house.gov\/uploadedfiles\/3.8.24_mit_letter.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">letter<\/a> cited several tweets Aqrabawi sent, \u2064including one in which he said Israel &#8220;has no future \u200din this world.&#8221; \u200dIn other \u200cposts highlighted by the committee, the MIT faculty member\u2062 accused Israelis of &#8220;harvesting&#8221;\u2064 the organs of dead Palestinians \u2064and called Zionists &#8220;Jewish fundamentalists \u200dwho want to enslave the world in\u2062 a\u200c global Apartheid\u2063 system.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As a <a href=\"https:\/\/tonegawalab.mit.edu\/members\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">postdoctoral associate<\/a> \u2062in MIT&#8217;s \u200cPicower\u200c Institute\u200c for Learning and Memory, Aqrabawi earns a <a href=\"https:\/\/postdocs.mit.edu\/about\/postdoctoral-salary-and-benefits\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">minimum salary<\/a> of $66,950 and <a href=\"https:\/\/postdocs.mit.edu\/postdoctoral-position\/defining-postdoc-fellows-and-associates\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">works under<\/a> a &#8220;faculty \u200bmentor,&#8221; according \u200bto MIT\u2019s website. The \u2064head of Aqrabawi&#8217;s lab is <a href=\"https:\/\/tonegawalab.mit.edu\/susumu-tonegawa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Susumu \u200dTonegawa<\/a>, a\u200d professor of biology\u2062 and neuroscience.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2062 is unclear whether Aqrabawi is an American citizen. A <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AjAqrabawi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">self-identified<\/a> \u2063&#8221;Palestinian-Canadian,&#8221; Aqrabawi \u2063graduated from the\u200c University of Toronto, according to\u2063 an \u2064 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/profile\/Afif-Aqrabawi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">online bio<\/a>, and his social media tirade refers to \u200dAmerican politicians as &#8220;your representatives.&#8221; Neither MIT nor Aqrabawi responded \u2062to requests for comment regarding\u2063 whether\u2062 he teaches undergraduate students or his citizenship status.<\/p>\n<p>Aqrabawi is\u2063 no stranger to anti-Semitic\u2062 rhetoric, having referred\u200c to Israelis as mentally ill Nazis, language that he acknowledged is &#8220;hateful.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Hail the man leading an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lol-kamala-harris-claims-people-dont-need-to-abandon-their-faith-in-order-to-support-abortion\/\" title=\"Lol: Kamala Harris Claims People Don\u2019t Need to \u201cAbandon Their Faith\u201d In Order to Support Abortion\">industrial-scale slaughter<\/a> of an occupied, \u2064defenseless people!&#8221; he <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AjAqrabawi\/status\/1717239843904799022\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote<\/a> \u2064 in response to an Oct.\u200d 25 address from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanayhu. \u200c&#8221;Zionism is a mental illness.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Dear ZioNazis \u200cof Israel, \u200cparticularly those \u200bsupporting this genocide, \u2063I hope you never find peace\u2063 and comfort in life,&#8221; he\u200b <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AjAqrabawi\/status\/1740365355439059031\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote<\/a> in \u200bDecember.\u200c &#8220;I hope the\u200c ghosts of our 30,000 killed haunt you until you rot out of existence.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Yes, this is hateful language,&#8221; he continued.&#8221; Don&#8217;t expect me to be full of love and professionalism as this holocaust continues to unfold against my \u2063deeply oppressed people.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Three days after\u200d Hamas&#8217;s\u200c Oct. 7 attack on Israel,\u2064 meanwhile, Aqrabawi <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AjAqrabawi\/status\/1711822496310100340\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">compared<\/a> Israel&#8217;s\u2063 retaliatory war to &#8220;Nazism, disguised as Israeli\u200b self-defense.&#8221; Last month, the MIT faculty member \u200bsaid Hamas members did not rape Israelis on the day of\u2064 the attack.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Can you point to a single report\/victim?&#8221; he <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ZevBenMeirBC\/status\/1753884212682539455?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote<\/a>. &#8220;Not only can you not substantiate your perverted rape fantasies, you won&#8217;t allow any third-party\u200d investigations of their\u2062 allegations.&#8221; Roughly one month later, a United \u2063Nations report <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/latest-news\/un-investigators-confirm-evidence-of-hamas-sexual-violence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">confirmed evidence<\/a> of Hamas \u2064terrorists \u2062raping Israeli victims.<\/p>\n<p>MIT&#8217;s internal deliberations \u200dregarding Aqrabawi and other \u2064student\u2062 groups and faculty members may eventually make their\u200b way to \u2062Foxx and her\u2062 committee: Foxx\u2019s letter requests internal communications between MIT leaders on\u2064 the school&#8217;s disciplinary decisions, among other \u2062records. Should MIT\u200d refuse, Foxx&#8217;s committee could subpoena the school, as\u2063 it has done to\u200b Harvard University.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;MIT is committed to providing a response\u2063 to the committee&#8217;s questions,&#8221; the school <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/campus\/house-presses-mit-to-provide-records-on-its-response-to-campus-anti-semitism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> \u200cin a Friday statement. &#8220;We don&#8217;t have any further comment at this \u200ctime.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> How has \u2064MIT \u2063responded to the backlash against its faculty member for\u200b his anti-Semitic comments?<\/h2>\n<p><span>  MIT Faculty Member \u200dFaces Backlash for Anti-Semitic Comments&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In a recent incident, a postdoctoral associate at the Massachusetts Institute of\u200c Technology (MIT), Afif Aqrabawi, went on an offensive and anti-Semitic tirade after the House Committee on Education and the Workforce requested\u2063 internal\u200b documents from the \u200dinstitution regarding their handling of anti-Semitism on campus. \u2063Aqrabawi, who works in MIT&#8217;s Tonegawa neuroscience lab, aimed \u2062derogatory comments at committee chairwoman Virginia Foxx, accusing her of being a\u2063 &#8220;treasonous Zionist tool&#8221; and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/video-teacher-berates-student-for-white-privilege-threatens-parents-for-questioning-her-come-at-me\/\" title=\"VIDEO: Teacher Berates Student For White Privilege, Threatens Parents For Questioning Her: \u2018Come At Me!\u2019\">making disparaging remarks<\/a> about other members of\u200d the House.<\/p>\n<p>Aqrabawi&#8217;s disrespectful and inflammatory comments not only \u2062target individuals but also \u200clevied accusations against American politicians as a whole. He referred to them as &#8220;loyal prostitutes of Netanyahu&#8221; and criticized their alleged influence of Jewish political groups. In addition, he used derogatory language towards Israelis, describing them as &#8220;parasites&#8221; and accused Zionists of wanting to establish a global apartheid system.<\/p>\n<p>The incident unfolded \u2062following a letter sent by Chairwoman Virginia\u200d Foxx to MIT&#8217;s president, Sally \u2064Kornbluth, expressing dissatisfaction with the school&#8217;s response to anti-Semitic incidents on campus and requesting transparency through the submission of internal\u200d documents. The committee&#8217;s letter highlighted\u200c several tweets from Aqrabawi,\u2064 including one \u200ddenying Israel&#8217;s future in this world and another accusing Israelis of organ harvesting and\u200c promoting a global apartheid system.<\/p>\n<p>As a postdoctoral associate in MIT&#8217;s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Aqrabawi receives a minimum salary and works under the supervision of a faculty mentor. His lab is headed \u200cby Susumu Tonegawa, a \u2063well-respected professor of biology and neuroscience at MIT. It remains unclear whether Aqrabawi is an American citizen,\u200c as he identifies as a &#8220;Palestinian-Canadian&#8221; on social media. Neither Aqrabawi nor MIT have responded to requests for comment on his citizenship status or\u2063 whether he teaches undergraduate students.<\/p>\n<p>This incident is not the \u2063first time that Aqrabawi has displayed anti-Semitic rhetoric.\u200d He has previously referred to Israelis as mentally ill Nazis, acknowledging that such language is &#8220;hateful.&#8221; These\u200b comments not only\u200c add to the growing concerns about anti-Semitism but also bring into question the responsibility\u200b of academic institutions in addressing and preventing the \u200cspread of discriminatory views within their walls.<\/p>\n<p>Critics argue that Aqrabawi&#8217;s comments are \u200dnot only offensive but also undermine the \u2062principles of academic freedom and respect for diverse opinions that universities should strive\u200d for. As educational institutions,\u200d places like\u2064 MIT have a duty to foster an environment of inclusivity\u200d and tolerance for all individuals, regardless of their backgrounds \u2062or beliefs.<\/p>\n<p>In response to\u2063 this incident, it is important for MIT and other institutions to reaffirm their commitment to diversity, inclusivity, and respect. Racist and discriminatory views have no place on campus or in any academic setting. Universities must\u2062 take seriously their role in addressing and\u200b preventing hate speech and discrimination, ensuring that their campuses remain safe and\u200d welcoming spaces for all.<\/p>\n<p>Moving forward, it is essential for MIT and other institutions to establish \u200cclear guidelines and policies regarding respectful and appropriate behavior \u200bfor their faculty, staff, and students. Such steps will help prevent incidents like this and ensure that individuals are held \u2063accountable for their actions and the impact of their words.<\/p>\n<p>In conclusion, the recent anti-Semitic tirade by Afif Aqrabawi, a\u200d postdoctoral associate at MIT, highlights the pressing need \u200dfor universities\u200c to address and combat discrimination and hate speech within their communities. It is crucial for institutions to create an inclusive and respectful environment, \u200cwhere all individuals can thrive and pursue their \u200cacademic goals without fear of prejudice or hostility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MIT faculty member, Afif Aqrabawi, labeled Chairwoman Virginia Foxx a &#8220;treasonous Zionist tool,&#8221; sparking an anti-Semitic outburst. The House Committee on Education and the Workforce had requested internal documents from MIT, prompting this response<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2360,"featured_media":2196833,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Untitled-design-29.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2196832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Untitled-design-29.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2196832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2360"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2196832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2196832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2196833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2196832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2196832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2196832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}