Kuwaiti student expelled from French university over anti-Semitic Facebook posts

Marcy Oster

(JTA) — A Kuwaiti student was expelled from the prestigious Sciences Po University in Paris over anti-Semitic comments made on Facebook.

Amira Jumaa is the first student to be expelled from the institution since it was founded in 1872, according to Haaretz. She reportedly was expelled in December in a decision by the university’s disciplinary committee, which is made up of students and professors, Haaretz reported, citing a report in the French weekly Nouvel Observateur.

The expulsion was not widely publicized, and its announcement at the university was made on a piece of paper posted in a university building, according to the French report.

The Facebook posts came to light in October while Jumaa worked as an intern at the French Consulate in New York as part of a school program. She was fired immediately by the consulate and suspended from the university pending an investigation.

The posts were exposed by a website called the Inglourious Basterds, whose stated goal is to expose anti-Semitism in social media.

“Friends, there is a big catch. She’s young, she’s rich, she’s jet set, she enjoys horseback riding, and she hates the Jews,” the site said in introducing Jumaa. According to the site, Jumaa liked a Facebook page called “I hate Israel.”

Inglourious Basterds, which takes its name from a Quentin Tarantino movie about American Jewish soldiers who hunted Nazis during World War II, published screenshots of some of Jumaa’s posts.

She wrote in one: “Yes you Jews deserve to learn these lessons. What did you expect, taking over people’s lands and killing them? Hugs?”

Jumaa also wrote: “You don’t belong anywhere in this world — that’s why you guys are scums and rats and discriminated against wherever you are. Do not blame it on the poor Palestinians.”

In response to being accused of racism, Jumaa wrote: “First of all you dispersed rat, i am not an immigrant from France. I am from Kuwait so my country can buy you and your parents and put you in ovens.”

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