A doctor at NYU Langone Winthrop Hospital was removed from his resident position after he openly praised on social media the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack that killed more than 1,400 Israelis.
The medical center located in Mineola, Long Island, told the New York Post that Dr. Zaki Masoud, who attended the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, is in the process of being terminated from his position for his controversial Instagram post last week.
"It's time to be bold with your words," Masoud wrote, including an image of Palestinians cheering. "Don't hesitate to openly state your support of Palestinian resistance. Be loud & proud you're on the side of justice.
"No more walking on eggshells, afraid of what people will think. Let them call it terrorism. Extremism. Barbarianism. We call it liberation. Decolonization. Resistance. Revolution."
NYU Langone Winthrop moved to fire Masoud after the StopAntisemitism nonprofit group alerted the hospital Friday to the physician's post.
"Zaki Masoud is a physician at NYU Langone Winthrop Hospital," the group wrote in a post on X. "On October 7th, after Hamas terrorists murdered 1300+ people in Israel, raped young women, beheaded babies, and burned the elderly alive, Dr. Masoud took to Instagram and labeled this massacre a 'liberation. Resistance. Revolution.'
"Jewish patients, specifically Israeli ones, must be kept away from this man @nyulangone."
In a statement obtained by the Post, NYU Health said Masoud has been "removed from service" and the health organization is "following our investigative and disciplinary processes."
NYU Langone Health confirmed in an earlier statement posted on X that Masoud had been "removed from service" and that the hospital was in the process of terminating him. The statement appears to have since been deleted, but the Post obtained screenshots before it was taken down.
"We will not tolerate reprehensible statements condoning hatred or violence which have no place in our institution," NYU Health said. "All employees are held to this high standard."
A man who identified himself as Masoud's uncle told the Post on Wednesday that firing the doctor over his social media post would be unfair.
"He's pro-Palestinian, not pro-Hamas," the uncle said.
A Change.org petition calling for Masoud to be reinstated had garnered more than 46,000 signatures online as of Wednesday.
"The decision to terminate Dr. Masoud appears to have been influenced by external pressure from social media without due consideration of the context and nature of Dr. Masoud's peaceful actions," the petition read.
"There were no statements made by Dr. Masoud that promoted hatred or violence. Dr. Masoud was merely exercising his right to express solidarity with those who share his ethnic background in a private capacity on social media. … We urge NYU Langone to reinstate Dr. Zaki Masoud immediately. We call upon the administration to uphold the values of justice, equality, and respect for diversity."