A lauded Palestinian professor sparked anger when he tweeted a distorted joke about claims that Hamas terrorists baked an Israeli baby to death in an oven.
Gaza-based professor Refaat Alareer – once glorified by the New York Times – responded to a paramedic’s statement that they had found a toddler boiled to death by tweeting: “With or without baking soda?”
He responded to another tweet from journalist Dovid Efune that said: “A baby was found in an oven and baked to death by Hamas terrorists,” senior Israeli first responder @EliBeerUh reported at an @RJC gathering last night.
“His group was among the first to respond to and witness the October 7 atrocities.”
Medic Eli Beer heads United Hatzalah, a Jerusalem-based volunteer medical organization that is now assisting IDF in treating survivors and victims of the war.
The RJC to which Efune’s tweet refers is the Republican Jewish Commission, a group of conservative Jews based in the United States.
In an impassioned speech Saturday at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership summit in Las Vegas, he described the horrors of what medics saw as they responded to the Hamas attack.
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Medic Eli Beer heads United Hatzalah, a Jerusalem-based volunteer medical organization that is now assisting IDF in treating survivors and victims of the war. On Saturday, he described that Hamas had found babies burned in ovens
Professor Refaat Alareer dismissed the description as “Zionist propaganda” and made the sick baking powder joke
“We saw a little baby in an oven. These bastards put a little baby in the oven and put it on the oven.
“A few hours later we found the boy,” he said, warning the audience: “These are not normal enemies.”
Refaat Alareer, a Gaza-based professor who has previously said all Jews are “evil,” dismissed the medics’ statement as “Zionist propaganda.”
A video of his remarks was shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, where pro-Palestinian commentators dismissed it as “Zionist propaganda.”
Among them was Alareer, a Gaza-based professor, who responded to the oven story by asking, “With or without baking powder?”
In another tweet, he continued: “The new Zionist propaganda has just stopped.” What’s next? Hamas ate the Jews?
Alareer, who previously called all Jews “evil,” was published by The New York Times in May 2021.
In his guest essay, “My Child Asks: ‘Can Israel Destroy Our Building If the Power Goes Out?'” he described the many years of Israeli attacks that he said killed members of his family and his wife’s family.
He spoke of his love and fear for his six children and fondly recalled reading them bedtime stories to distract them from the atrocities of war.
He was also featured in a glowing article in the newspaper in November 2021.
Reporter Patrick Kingsley called him an unusual “champion of Hebrew poetry” and presented him as open-minded and peaceful.
The newspaper’s editorial team added a comment after publication acknowledging that it had been portrayed in a way that was not “complete.”
Alareer was featured by The New York Times in 2021. He was portrayed as a peaceful, open-minded professor
Beer met President Biden during his visit to Israel on October 18. His humanitarian organization also provides aid in disaster areas
Earlier this year, before the October 7 Hamas attack, he was scheduled to appear at UPenn for a Palestinian literary festival.
Students protested against his anti-Semitic writings and he was removed from the panel of speakers.
Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, who has been widely condemned for his comments about Jews, was also scheduled to speak at the event.
Beer, the medic who spoke graphically about what he saw, met with President Biden during his Oct. 18 visit to Israel.
The humanitarian organization also provided assistance to Moroccan villages affected by the devastating earthquake earlier this year.
Since the war began on October 7, Hamas and its supporters have tirelessly sought to dismiss and discredit testimony about the most brutal acts committed by some of its militants.
First, there was widespread disagreement over the controversial story that some paramedics found decapitated babies.
Beer insists it is true, and Biden said he has seen photos to back up the claims. A morgue worker also told that Hamas beheaded an unborn baby after ripping it from its mother’s womb.
The origins of a rocket attack on a hospital in Gaza have also been widely disputed.
Both the US and Israel say Islamic Jihad is to blame and that it misfired a rocket that hit the hospital and its parking lot.
Hamas claims Israel launched the attack, killing 500 civilians.