Beersheva’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has reinstated an employee who accused Israel Defense Forces soldiers of being “baby killers,” after he apologized for the “hurt” that his remarks caused to students.
The university’s rector, professor Chaim Hames, “reviewed the complaints regarding the statements published by Sebastian Ben-Daniel (‘John Brown’) and decided to revoke his suspension,” it announced Tuesday.
The statement noted that the computer scientist “has been teaching for many years and is a respected lecturer.”
Ben-Daniel regretted his remarks, and to now understand “that he must consider that his writing style might harm the students studying under him,” it continued.
“It should be emphasized that the university dissociates itself from the statements, and they do not represent it in any way,” BGU concluded.
Ben-Daniel, who uses the pseudonym “John Brown” on social media, was briefly suspended after right-wing Jewish groups uncovered X posts in which he accused the IDF of killing children.
One of the social media posts, Ben-Daniel allegedly wrote, “This 7-year-old child was murdered by the order of the death-eater from the Eli pre-military academy [in Samaria]. Not by mistake—targeted fire to kill.”
The Bnei David pre-military religious academy in Eli, Samaria, lost over 20 of its students to the ongoing wars on the Jewish state’s borders.
In another post, he allegedly wrote, “IDF soldiers murder babies not because of orders, but because they were taught to be baby killers.”
According to Israel’s Arutz 7 outlet, Ben-Daniel last week criticized his suspension in a letter to students, claiming that his remarks on social media were “completely taken out of context by political elements.”
Ben-Daniel reportedly emphasized that his “criticism” of the country’s military was “completely separate from my academic work.”
“As a person born during the dictatorship in Argentina, I know what silencing means and there will be no turning back,” he said.
Shai Glick, CEO of the right-wing human rights group b’Tsalmo that filed a complaint with BGU, told Israel National News that the university was still “obligated to discuss it and examine in the disciplinary committee whether this amounts to violations of the [academic] regulations.”
“Our struggle has only just begun. Just as professor Nadira [Shalhoub-Kevorkian, who denied the Oct. 7, 2023 atrocities committed by Hamas] from the Hebrew University returned after suspension, but was dismissed a few months later following our disciplinary complaint, we have no doubt that the result in this case will be the same,” stated Glick.
“Freedom of expression [does not equal] racism and incitement,” the activist said.
