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Toni Airaksinen
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Toni Airaksinen
A news reporter covering campus antisemitism.
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‘Execute Zionists’: Police Called on Antisemitic Prof

Image Compilation of Publicly Avaiable Images and a Screenshot of Professor Ali's Comments on Zionists
Image Compilation of Publicly Avaiable Images and a Screenshot of Professor Ali's Comments on Zionists

School officials at the University of Sydney in Australia, along with local police, have launched a swift investigation into a professor who posted last week about “killing” Jews who believe in Israel’s right to exist.

Fahad Ali — a noted Palestinian activist who teaches biology — took to Twitter on June 12th, last week, to make a horrifying statement about Zionists, and has a history of making antisemitic comments and involvement in anti-Israel activist efforts.

“Fuck sanctions, I want Zionists executed like we executed Nazis,” he popped off.

“People are on Twitter every single day celebrating… don’t tell me that wanting to see these people hanged like the Nazis is violent,” Ali added.

“Israel is a threat to world safety and the continued existence of the human species” he also said that day. “Israel has a right to stop existing,” he added.

The condemnation was swift.

Unlike in the United States, which typically does not involve police in issues surrounding “free speech,” the New South Wales (NSW) Police Force has stepped in.

“The matter has been reported to police, who have commenced an investigation into the post,” the NSW Police Force spokesman said.

“The NSW Police Force takes hate crimes seriously and encourages anyone who is the victim of a hate crime or witnesses a hate crime to report the matter to police.”

Earlier in the year, Ali had made numerous statements on social media about Palestine.

While Ali has since deleted all his social media, one netizen captured this comment (see picture below) from what appears to be either LinkedIn or Threads, Facebook’s version of Twitter.

In it, Ali said that despite his Palestinian identity, “I try to keep it separate from my work as an educator and the basic realities of my existence as a Palestinian.”

However, he boasted that he used his class as a springboard for his political ideology.

“This morning, I began my class by telling students I was Palestinian. I wore my keffiyeh all semester, I gave a brief overview of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and I encouraged students to learn more about the conflict,” he posted online.

He also suggested how easy it was to indoctrinate his young first-year students, noting “how much better behaved these first-year students are compared to the many managers and administrators who have tried to silence me.”
Ali was quickly condemned by one of the top Australian Jewish organizations.“Mr. Ali has a long history of posting … However, his social media posts from [Thursday] represent an escalation in that they call for violence against Jews and Israelis,” the organization’s spokeswoman, Simone Abel wrote.

“Mr. Ali should be required to apologise publicly and to retract these posts.”

The professor’s comments come after the school pledged to help soften hostilities among Jewish and Palestinian students on campus.

“If students have felt unsafe or unwelcome, if that is their lived experience, if that is their testimony, we have failed them,” University Chancellor Mark Scott said.

The university spokesperson also confirmed the police’s investigation.

“We’re appalled by these comments and consider them utterly unacceptable, and are immediately undertaking a review,” the spokeswoman told the Daily Telegraph. “As [Fahad’s Twitter] is a personal account, determining whether [his tweets] might constitute illegal activity would be a matter for the police.”

Meanwhile, it is unclear if Professor Fahad Ali will still be teaching students this coming week or if he has been put on leave. The University of Sydney did not respond to a request for comment yet, but we will update this article if they do.

In other news: it was reported today (Sunday) that the university is now facing a lawsuit over previous failures to deal with two allegedly antisemitic professors on campus and comments they made immediately after the October 7th attack on Israel.

“The legal action seeks to differentiate hate speech from free speech and to protect Jewish, Israeli and Zionist students, academics and staff from antisemitic rhetoric that has contributed to an unsafe university environment,” the lawyer, Mr. Rotstein said.

About the Author
Toni Airaksinen is an education reporter and editor for Liberty Affair. She graduated Barnard College in 2018, and as a journalist, focuses on antisemitism, free speech, and due process. She has written over 3,500 articles in the past 10 years for websites including USA TODAY College, NY Daily News, the Daily Caller, and Quillette. She splits her time between Boca Raton and New Jersey. Follow her on Substack and Twitter.
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