A US professor has been suspended following comments publicly calling for Iran to carry out a "symbolic strike" on a US military base in response to recent attacks on the country’s main nuclear facilities.
"I’m not an expert, but I assume Iran could still get a bomb easily. I hope Iran does some symbolic strike on a base, then everyone stops,” Dr. Jonathan Brown, the chair of Islamic Civilization at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, posted on X in June after the US struck Iran's three main nuclear sites.
The university’s Interim President Robert M. Groves testified to the House Education and Workforce Committee that Brown had been removed as chair of the department and placed on leave following the tweet while the university is now reviewing the case.
"Within minutes of our learning of that tweet, the Dean contacted Professor Brown, we issued a statement condemning the tweet. Professor Brown is no longer chair of his department, he’s on leave, and we’re beginning the process of reviewing the case," Groves testified.
It was part of a hearing titled "Antisemitism in Higher Education: Examining the Role of Faculty, Funding, and Ideology”. Other testimonies were made heard from top experts including CUNY Chancellor Dr. Félix V. Matos Rodríguez and Berkeley Chancellor Dr. Rich Lyons.
It comes in the wake of anti-Israel protests at US campuses since the outbreak of the Gaza war.
Last year in May, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei wrote an open letter to US university students, saying they “now formed a branch of the Resistance Front,” referring to the Iran-backed militias around the Middle East seeking to destroy Israel and kill American troops.
Brown was criticized by fellow academics online. Jewish People Policy Institute fellow Dr. Sara Yael Hirschhorn went to school with him. In an angry post on X, she said: "I'm appalled to see him calling for Iran to attack US troops and his awe at attacks on Israeli civilians. Georgetown- enough!”
In the wake of the outrage following his post on X, he told Fox News Digital: "I was calling for de-escalation as I am very opposed to American involvement in foreign wars.”
