A truce in the Israel-Palestine tweet wars
Dozens of public figures have been dismissed from their jobs because of their social media posts about the Israel-Hamas war. It’s a scorched-earth battle, and it makes real conversation impossible.
Your tweet was antisemitic. You’re fired!
Your tweet was anti-Palestinian, and Islamophobic, as well. You’re fired, too!
Welcome to the digital war we’ve been waging in the United States, while a real one rages in Gaza. Dozens of physicians, entertainers, and journalists have been dismissed because of their posts about the conflict. It’s a scorched-earth battle for the age of social media. And it makes real conversation impossible.
The only solution is to let everyone tweet what they wish, whether you agree with them or not.
Consider the case of 76ers beat reporter Jackson Frank, who was let go by PhillyVoice.com — after just a month on the job — for criticizing the Sixers’ statement about Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. “We stand with the people of Israel and join them in mourning the hundreds of innocent lives lost to terrorism at the hands of Hamas,” the statement declared.
Frank wasn’t having it. “The post sucks,” he tweeted. “Solidarity with Palestine always.”
I understand why some readers were offended by Frank’s tweet, which seemed to make light of Israeli suffering. But if you think he should be fired for it, do you also believe that Benjamin Neel should lose his job directing the cancer center at New York University?
Neel was fired for reposting two cartoons: one showed pro-Palestinian protesters holding signs justifying murder and rape, and the other questioned whether a two-state solution in the Mideast was possible if Hamas remains in power. Neel also shared a post doubting the accuracy of a list of 7,000 people Hamas claimed had been killed during Israel’s attack on Gaza.
In a lawsuit against NYU, Neel said the university feared a backlash after it dismissed another physician, Zaki Masoud, who was fired for a post that seemed to praise the Hamas attack. “Don’t hesitate to openly state your support of Palestinian resistance,” Masoud tweeted. “Let them call it terrorism. Extremism. Barbarianism. We call it liberation. Decolonization. Resistance. Revolution.”
Did NYU fire Neel to create “the appearance of even-handedness” with Masoud, as the suit alleges? I don’t know. But here’s what I do know: There’s no way to justify firing one of these guys unless you also dismiss the other one. And if we keep calling for their heads, we will lose our minds.
How many more people will be fired for tweets about Israel/Palestine? And how do you know you won’t be next on the list if someone is offended by your own post?
How many more people will be fired for tweets about Israel/Palestine?
Let’s be clear about two points. First, nobody has a right to be insulated from criticism. It’s perfectly fair — indeed, it’s necessary — to raise your voice against remarks that vilify Jews, Muslims, or anyone else.
Second, employers generally have a right to fire people for hateful social media posts. But that option should be exercised gingerly — and rarely — or we will all end up with targets on our backs.
In an interview with the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent, Frank insisted that his tweet aimed not to defend Hamas’ attack, but instead to denounce the Sixers’ one-sided response to it. “They are implicitly saying the lives and safety and autonomy of Israelis is more important than Palestinians,” Frank said. “There’s never been any statement condemning what Israel is doing in Gaza or the lives lost.”
Again, you might find good reason to disagree with Frank here. But if you signed on to social media to demand his dismissal, you’re part of the problem. Do you really think the world will be a better place if everyone who takes a controversial public position runs the risk of losing their job?
So I propose a Tweet Truce. You get to post what you want, and so do I. We won’t always agree, but we also won’t go straight for the jugular when we don’t.
The alternative is an endless cycle of vengeance and recrimination, which has spread all the way to Hollywood. Prominent voice actress Tara Strong was dropped from an animated series after she denounced anti-Israel protesters for “supporting terrorism.” A few weeks later, actress Melissa Barrera was fired from Scream 7 over her tweets in support of Palestinian rights.
“This is my statement: Everything sucks,” Scream 7 director Christopher Landon tweeted, following Barrera’s dismissal. “Stop yelling. This was not my decision to make.”
Landon was correct: Right now, everything sucks. But we can decide to make it better by practicing tolerance instead of arrogance. This is my statement: Stop yelling and start listening. You might even learn something.