Professor Asad Abukhalil. Photo: وسام زقوت via Wikicommons.

A professor at California State University, Stanislaus, with a long history of anti-Israel and antisemitic statements claimed on Sunday that the Jewish state was planning to discriminate against Arab coronavirus victims and put them in “mass prisons,” and then blamed subsequent complaints on the work of “Zionist hoodlums.”

Asad Abukhalil, a professor of political science, tweeted on March 8, “Israel will — I am sure — have different medical procedures for Jews and non-Jews. Non-Jews will be put in mass prisons.”

Israel will—I am sure—have different medical procedures for Jews and non-Jews. Non-Jews will be put in mass prisons. https://t.co/2Xy4rwoRl6

— asad abukhalil أسعد أبو خليل (@asadabukhalil) March 8, 2020

The response was immediate, with many pointing out that there is equality of treatment and employment in Israeli hospitals, with many Arab doctors and nurses.

“I’m so surprised you would say that,” said one response. “My Israeli mom was hospitalized for 2 months in Israel. Her supervising Dr. & many of her Drs & nurses were Israeli Arabs working side by side w Israeli Jews. They were wonderful.”

“Are you suggesting that those Arab doctors will discriminate???” it asked.

I’m so surprised you would say that.
My Israeli mom was hospitalized for 2 months in Israel.Her supervising Dr. & many of her Drs & nurses were Israeli Arabs working side by side w Israeli Jews. They were wonderful.

Are you suggesting that those Arab doctors will discriminate???

— ShirTruth (@ShirTruth) March 10, 2020

Another respondent said, “Ive personally been in Israeli hospitals seeing Jewish & Arab Israeli staff treating Jewish & Arab citizens w/ same protocols in same rooms.”

Another hateful person teaching on US campuses. Ive personally been in Israeli hospitals seeing Jewish & Arab Israeli staff treating Jewish & Arab citizens w/ same protocols in same rooms. Also see operation good neighbor @EyalDror4 saving/treating Syrian refugees, amazing!!!

— Jwylen (@JeremyWylen) March 10, 2020

On Tuesday, Abukhalil said he had been merely joking, and then went on a tirade about “Zionist hoodlums” reporting his tweet.

“If mocking Israeli racism is anti-Semitism, how do you deal with the true racism of the Israeli state, which was founded on series of discriminatory law [sic] and which has only been adding more Racist discmriminatory [sic] laws ever since it was founded atop the Palestinian nation,” he tweeted.

He added, “Twitter ruled that the false accusation by Zionist hoodlums has no merits.”

And I have always called for rejection of any anti-Semitism in the pro-Palestine camp. If mocking Israeli racism is anti-Semitism, how do you deal with the true racism of the Israeli state, which was founded on series of disciminatory law and which has only been adding more

— asad abukhalil أسعد أبو خليل (@asadabukhalil) March 10, 2020

Abukhalil has also engaged in antisemitic rhetoric to attack Israel. According to a profile compiled by the NGO Canary Mission, in a Dec. 10, 2015 tweet, he called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a Nazi, writing, “Trump and Netanyahu are different in the same way that Hitler was different from Goebbels.”

Trump and Netanyahu: Trump and Netanyahu are different in the same way that Hitler was different from Goebbels.  https://t.co/Gt53xwOaYy

— asad abukhalil أسعد أبو خليل (@asadabukhalil) December 10, 2015

Comparing Israel or Israelis to the Nazis is considered antisemitism under the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition, which has been widely adopted by countries around the world, including the United States.

Abukhalil has also accused Israel of “cheap, grotesque exploitation of the Holocaust for political purposes.”

In addition, he has expressed support for terrorism, saying in a May 11, 2013 speech that Hezbollah’s use of terror was preferable to negotiations with Israel and praising Palestinians’ “violent resistance” to Zionism during the British Mandatory period. Such “resistance” included riots and massacres that resulted in the ethnic cleansing of Jews from Gaza and Hebron.

A staunch BDS supporter, Abukhalil said in April 2013 that the “real goal” of the movement should be to “end the existence of Israel.”

On June 22, 2014, Abukhalil issued a non-denial denial of this claim, saying, “PS And for the umpteenth time, I never said that the real aim of BDS is to tend [sic] the existence of Israel, I said that it should be that. I wish it is [sic] the case but it is not. BDS has not officially endorsed that aim of ending Zionism in Palestine.”