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Columbia U. official under fire for anti-Israel Facebook post

Maryam Zohny, director of Columbia University's Center for Palestinian Studies, removed a controversial Facebook post about an Israeli soldier after objections from the Anti-Defamation League.

 

Jordan Valinsky

Tech

Posted on Dec 18, 2012   Updated on Jun 2, 2021, 5:16 am CDT

A Columbia University official is under fire for posting a photo that labeled an Israeli soldier as a “terrorist” and “killer” on Facebook.

Maryam Zohny, who posted the message on her personal Facebook account last Thursday, is a program director for the university’s Center for Palestine Studies. Her Facebook post featured a photo of a female Israeli soldier with logos of Palestinian terrorist groups and the caption
“Wanted.”

Zohny deleted the post after Anti-Defamation League (ADL) caught wind of it, reports JTA. The Jewish advocacy group sent a letter to Columbia University president Lee Bollinger, blasting the picture as “deeply disturbing.”

“Ms. Zohny is certainly entitled to her own views, but as a University official ostensibly responsible for helping to educate students about the Middle East, the sentiments expressed in this post are alarming and unacceptable,” the ADL said in a statement.

The post Zohny circulated was targeting Nofar Mizrahi, an Israeli soldier who reportedly shot a 17-year-old Palestinian boy at the border. The incident sparked outrage on social media channels, with some labeling Mizrahi as an “Israeli terrorist.”

According to the ADL, neither Zohny nor Columbia University has responded to the organization’s letter. The university did not immediately return a request for comment from the Daily Dot.

Photo via Testosterone Tantum/Twitter

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*First Published: Dec 18, 2012, 3:36 pm CST