Suspensions, public outrage ensue as tensions over Middle East sweep through oncology

Benjamin G. Neel, a widely respected cancer biologist with a considerable social media presence, was suspended from his job as director of the New York University Perlmutter Cancer Center following complaints over his retweets of political cartoons and other materials that were critical of protesters against Israel’s strikes on Gaza and that included caricatures critics described as “anti-Arab.”

Neel, a cancer biologist whose work focuses on cell signaling and who has run the cancer center since 2014, was voted into the National Academy of Sciences a year ago. Neel is the highest-ranking cancer physician-scientist to face suspension as a result of posting social media content about the volatile situation in the Middle East.

His suspension was announced on Nov. 1, four days after NYU suspended a resident named Zaki Masoud for an analogous infraction. 

Masoud, who is Palestinian, was removed from service at NYU Langone Hospital-Long Island after a post on his personal Instagram account came under public scrutiny. The graphic, which Masoud re-shared to his Instagram story, stated in part: “Let them call it terrorism. Extremism. Barbarianism/ We call it liberation. Decolonization. Resistance. Revolution.”

On Nov. 1, NYU Cancer Center staff members received the following email signed by Steven B. Abramson, chief academic officer and executive vice president and vice dean for education, faculty:

Neel declined to discuss his suspension with a reporter. Recently, NYU received an “outstanding” score on renewal of its Cancer Center Support Grant from NCI.

NYU is not the only United States-based cancer center to experience the reverberations of the Middle East conflict that began with the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. During the attack, at least 1,400 Israelis were killed and over 200 were taken hostage, according to the Israeli government. In the aftermath, Israel has killed more than 9,061 Palestinians in Gaza and injured more than 22,000 in a series of airstrikes, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health. People in Gaza are running out of clean drinking water, food, and fuel to support essential medical services.

As the conflict intensifies, a chill has descended on the multinational culture of academic oncology, academic medicine, and beyond, as colleagues, institutions, and professional societies struggle to find the right language to describe the new burst of carnage in the Middle East. 

Posts on social media appear to be the leading cause of disciplinary actions. At Emory University Winship Cancer Institute, Abeer Abouyabis, a hematologist and assistant professor, was placed on leave as the result of a Facebook post expressing support for Palestine. The post references the paragliders Hamas militants used to enter Israel—“They got walls we got gliders/ Glory to all resistance fighters.” 

Even upon deep consideration and despite efforts to be sensitive and proactive, expressing an opinion on the Middle East conflict means taking a risk of stumbling into a controversy or worse. 

The American Association for Cancer Research, for example, was criticized for sending out an email statement that, some protesting members wrote, did not sufficiently “acknowledge the fact that this brutal terrorist attack against Israel initiated this war and that, in addition to war crimes against Israelis, Hamas is performing war crimes against their own people by using them as human shields.”

“We must not forget who we are as a community”

In May 2020, oncology organizations had no difficulty formulating statements about the killing of George Floyd by police on a Minneapolis street. Similarly, in February 2022, few cancer organizations had trouble formulating statements about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

This situation is different, yet leaders in oncology say there must be a path forward that preserves the culture of academia, which means both the spirit of open discussion on difficult subjects.

Robert A. Winn, director and Lipman Chair in Oncology, VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center and president of the Association of American Cancer Institutes, said cancer researchers must make an effort to protect the international, inclusive culture that has developed in cancer research.

“We must not forget who we are as a community. Cancer research is a field where people of different races, ethnicity, genders, sexual orientation, countries of origin, and beliefs work side by side, fighting one enemy, cancer,” Winn said to The Cancer Letter. “Over time, many of these people become friends and even watch their families become friends despite their differences. We are here for a reason—to confront the common enemy, which is cancer.”

The disciplinary actions that have occurred in recent weeks suggest that institutions should be clear about their social media policies. 

“Everyone should get some social media training,” Winn said. “Whatever happens outside the window, as physicians, we cannot forget that people read our posts, and some of these people are our patients. We must not post anything that will make our patients doubt that we would treat them differently based on who they are, what they believe, and where they come from.

“It’s now more important than ever that we stick to the principles of DEI and the Hippocratic Oath. Grace is fundamental to our humanity and we are in great need of it these days,” Winn said.

Bruce Chabner, director of clinical research at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, has been giving a great deal of thought to the way discussions about the Middle East conflict are playing out in oncology. 

Difficult as it is to maintain perspective in the face of existential threats, it’s important to show respect for colleagues, friends, and patients who may hold different views, Chabner said.

“We are all deeply affected by the events in the Middle East and Ukraine and have hopes that our government will undertake actions consistent with our personal views,” Chabner said to The Cancer Letter. “However, as physicians and caregivers, it is essential that we remain committed to the welfare of all our patients as our greatest responsibility, and that we maintain an environment of trust and collegiality with our colleagues and coworkers.

“Our first responsibility is to the integrity of our profession. In the same vein, it is incumbent upon our patients to show the same respect for the members of their health care team. We should remember that what we do outside of the hospital or practice, whether in public or on social media, will be apparent to colleagues and patients.”

Wafik El-Deiry, director of the Cancer Center at Brown University and associate dean for oncologic sciences at the Warren Alpert Medical School, said events of recent weeks demonstrate the urgent need for institutions to provide better social media training.

“People need to feel safe and be safe. People need to show respect to each other and to human life,” El-Deiry said to The Cancer Letter.

Suspending, and potentially firing Neel would be excessive, El-Deiry said.

“Ben Neel should be allowed to express his views—but not to promote hate,” El-Deiry said to The Cancer Letter. “NYU should not terminate Dr. Neel because of expressing his views. Doing so does not solve anything. It actually deprives the institution from the services of a brilliant physician-scientist and respected academic leader. 

“I don’t think any patient should worry about the medical care they get at NYU, and no doctor will violate the Hippocratic Oath,” El-Deiry said. “Our cancer research and oncology culture should be civil, and leaders must be careful what they say publicly, because it matters. This particular issue is a minefield that Ben walked into by perhaps not being careful with what he retweeted. It’s really very difficult in New York City right now, because for many, silence is unacceptable, and so people take sides and then there’s trouble. 

“The institutions whose leaders are taking action are acting to protect their reputations, but are also not necessarily offering guidance to faculty for how to avoid these minefields while still expressing their views. Our own U.S. government now, while supporting Israel wholeheartedly, is wanting to reduce death of innocent people and allow humanitarian efforts. 

“As someone who was born in Egypt, I know the issues are very complex with generations of hatred and bloodshed that is a vicious cycle,” El-Deiry said. “May science, medicine, and humanity bring us together in civil discourse so we can keep doing good in a more peaceful world. Perhaps an ounce of ‘love your enemies’ could be helpful.”

Three physicians face disciplinary action

On the X platform formerly known as Twitter, Neel’s account re-posted tweets and political cartoons that derided ceasefire protesters and caricaturized Arabs.

One cartoon reposted by Neel depicts protesters with signs that read: “Stabbing parents in front of children is legal,” “beheading is resistance,” and “Gazans rape Jewish girls only in self defense.” In another cartoon, environmental activist Greta Thunberg expresses dismay at a Hamas militant using a plastic bag to carry dead “Israeli babies.”

These posts appeared at a time when at least 1,000 people showed up at a ceasefire protest in New York organized by the group Jewish Voice for Peace. In contrast to Neel’s re-post, signs at this protest bore the slogans: “Never again for anyone,” “Ceasefire now,” and “Let Gaza Live.”  

Another post, which was originally shared by Eli David, an AI researcher, and which Neel retweeted, includes a cartoon of a hypothetical scenario in which a Hamas militant sits opposite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a negotiating table. The militant is holding a child wrapped in explosives and a sign that reads, “Demands: Death to all Jews” while the negotiator, presumably U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, suggests, “Could you at least meet him half way?”

Neel’s account is now private, but screenshots of the re-tweets were posted by the account @endArabHate on X. 

Several users called on NYU to fire Neel after the institution removed a resident, Zaki Masoud, from service.

A graphic that Masoud re-shared to his Instagram story was obtained by Stopantisemitism.com, which posted it on X. The graphic, which was posted sometime after the Oct. 7 attack, states:

Stopantisemitism.org said it received the report about Masoud’s Instagram story Oct. 27 and that it was posted in reference to the Hamas massacre of 1,400 civilians Oct. 7. The Cancer Letter was unable to independently verify the date when Masoud re-shared the graphic. Masoud could not be reached for comment.

A Change.org petition was created to reinstate Masoud to his position at Winthrop. At this writing, the petition has been signed by more than 77,000 people. 

“The termination process initiated against Dr. Masoud is alarming and appears to be rooted in discriminatory practices,” the petition states. “Dr. Masoud, a Palestinian, was subjected to termination due to his support for Palestine, an expression of his heritage and identity. 

“It is essential to recognize that expressing solidarity with Palestine does not signify any form of hatred towards the Jewish community and does not equate to anti-Semitism.” 

When asked for comment on the cases of Neel and Masoud, NYU Langone Health provided the following statement: 

Dr. Benjamin Neel has been suspended from his role as director of the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center; and Zaki Masoud has been removed from service as a resident at NYU Langone Hospital-Long Island. We are following our investigative and disciplinary processes in both matters.

In the Emory case, Abeer Abouyabis, a hematologist and assistant professor, was placed on leave for a Facebook post that appears to include a reference to the Oct. 7 attack. The full text of her post follows:  

Winship’s response:  

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a nonpartisan nonprofit focused on defending freedom of speech, has written a letter to Gregory L. Fenves, president of Emory University, calling for Abouyabis to be reinstated to her role. 

“While some may have been offended by Abouyabis’s post, it is unquestionably protected by Emory’s robust free expression and academic freedom promises, and we thus urge the university to restore Abouyabis’s good standing and end any investigation into her protected expression,” wrote Graham Piro, program officer of campus rights advocacy at The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. 

The AACR letter to members 

In recent weeks, AACR learned that discussion of the Middle East conflict entails the risk of inadvertently upsetting a constituency.

On Oct. 19, AACR sent an email to members in Israel and Palestine, describing the accommodations—such as deadline extensions and free online access to events—that would allow them to take part in the AACR conferences.

Then, on Oct. 23, AACR sent this email to its 56,000 members:

The letter refers to “atrocious events” and the “current humanitarian crisis in the Middle East that is adversely affecting countless lives.” This non-specific language offended some scientists in Israel and worldwide, generating two responses.

One letter, signed by over 1,000 members of the “Israeli cancer research and treatment community,” reads in part: 

At the same time, AACR received a letter signed by 156 of its members. That letter, dated Oct. 25, reads:

On Nov. 2, Foti and Greenberg responded:

Alexandria Carolan contributed to this story.