Leen Dweik, former president of the New York University chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. Photo: YouTube screenshot.

New York University (NYU) took an unusual step this week, condemning a former student for a mocking tweet about the first Israeli coronavirus fatality.

Upon learning of the death of Aryeh Even, an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor who lived in Jerusalem, last Friday, Leen Dweik — ex-president of NYU’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter — tweeted, “Anyway should I paint my nails red or green today?”

A former leader in NYU’s chapter of SJP (“Students for Justice in Palestine”), Leen Dweik, posted this hateful and disturbing tweet after learning that Israel reported their first coronavirus death (an 88-year-old #Holocaust survivor). pic.twitter.com/Rex2z2LYiw

— StandWithUs (@StandWithUs) March 23, 2020

On Tuesday, NYU spokesman John Beckman issued a statement, saying, “With almost 500,000 alumni, NYU does not routinely respond to its graduates’ social media posts, but the reported Twitter post by a former NYU student about the first Israeli death from COVID-19 was shameful and callous.”

“The death and disruption caused by this pandemic should be reason to draw us together in sympathy, not be fodder for divisiveness and indifference,” he added. “NYU denounces such insensitivity; it is at odds with our campus’ values.”