Technion plans to expel Israeli-Arab medical student who made Facebook joke about kidnapped teens

A third-year Israeli-Arab medical student at the Israel Institute of Technology — better known as Technion, or Israel's MIT — is facing trial, and probable expulsion, for a Facebook status he wrote the day after “>discovered dead, another Technion student who had screen-capped the status apparently sent it to a popular Israeli Facebook page called “Statusim Metzizim” (“Tweeting Statuses”). “>post a response to all the outrage on his Facebook page.

He wrote that media reports on his status had “caused a wave of militancy and threats.” He called his original post, which he wrote before he knew what would happen to the kids, “black humor,” and said that because it was “not a good joke,” he had deleted it a few hours after posting.

Elheja continued:

“I hurt from the murders of the three boys, just as I hurt from the murder of Palestinians, including children and youths killed during 'Operation Brother's Keeper,' including the child Mahmoud Dudeen, age 13. … Clearly some of the harsh and violent responses are derived from racism and prejudice, and in such an atmosphere, the text was judged not according to the true content, but according to the nationality of the author.”

One commenter over at Statusim Metzizim pointed out that a similar joke was actually employed by “>the greatest living Hebrew writer” by Tower Magazine) on June 29 at a Hebrew University graduation speech. “>reportedly caused some students and parents to walk out.

In the days that followed, Kashua wrote: “The website commenters wished for my children to be kidnapped, wanted to break my legs and wrote that my mother sleeps with the whole village. My wife was frightened. I closed windows and pulled down blinds.”

Perhaps we can apply