By Guy Page

A Vermont man and Yale University student has started a petition to fire a professor for her vocal support of Hamas-led violence in Israel. 

The Change.org petition, entitled Petition for Immediate Removal of Zareena Grewal from the Yale Faculty, was begun by Netanel Crispe and had 9,344 signatures as of Wednesday morning. Crispe lives in Danby and is the son of Asher Crispe, American Orthodox rabbi affiliated with the Chabad movement, and Sara Esther Crispe. 

On October 7, as reports of the Hamas invasion began to appear on U.S. media – including, Crispe said, “brutal rapes, violent kidnappings and murders, and the incomprehensible beheadings of men, women, children, and babies in Israel” – Yale Associate Professor of American Studies, Ethnicity, Race, & Migration, and Religious Studies Zareena Grewal posted on Twitter: “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”

Three days later she posted a response to a tweet by Israeili PM Netanyahu: “No government on earth is as genocidal as this settler colonial state.” 

These tweets and others by Grewal led Crispe to start the petition for her firing. “Freedom of Speech cannot be abused. And when one is in a position of authority and power, they must be held responsible for that speech. Speech that promotes, advocates, or supports violence, murder, or terrorism cannot and should never be tolerated.”

It is unknown whether Grewal is tenured at Yale. 

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