ST. LOUIS — A high-ranking Washington University professor is facing backlash after writing a post that called the ongoing Israel-Hamas war a "much needed cleansing" on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Professor Seth Crosby, director of collaborations at the Washington University School of Medicine, sent the post on Friday. Crosby has been in multiple directorial positions at the university over his nearly 20-year tenure according to his LinkedIn page, including director of partnerships and alliances, director of the genome technology access center, and director of translational research.
"It is a much needed cleansing, yes, but not an ethnic one," Crosby said in the post. "Israel is not targeting humans."
Crosby's X account has since been deleted. The post was also deleted by X, with the post's link redirecting to a message that read "This Post violated the X Rules."
Before Crosby's account was deleted, he posted an apology, which read:
"I am so very sorry for the anger I have caused by my clumsy words. Israel is targeting Hamas, an organization which has taken the life's of thousands of Israeli citizens. I did not intend to imply that the deaths of the Palestinian people was in any way acceptable."
Vice Chancellor for Marketing and Communications Julie Flory confirmed that Crosby is still employed by the university, but said officials would be following up with him.
"The opinions he has expressed as an individual do not represent the university’s position," Flory said. "We are following up as appropriate, according to our policies and processes."
The post received hefty backlash from St. Louis' Muslim community, who said the post endorsed an ethnic cleansing of Palestinians while calling the state's residents not human.
"It is unconscionable that a professor at a Missouri institution of higher education would allegedly call for the ethnic cleansing of any population and would seek to dehumanize the target of that crime against humanity,” said Yasir Ali, the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Missouri board chair. “We urge Washington University to investigate this troubling incident and to take appropriate action.”
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