A Jewish pediatrician has been suspended by the prestigious Johns Hopkins Hospital over offensive tweets in which he branded Palestinians, ‘blood thirsty morally depraved animals’.
Darren Klugman has been placed on leave from the Maryland facility following outrage over his posts.
The doctor is now subject to an investigation by his employers after The Council on American-Islamic Relations filed a complaint against him.
Posts from Klugman’s X account referred to Palestinians as ‘barbaric animals with no concern for life’ who ‘want nothing short of every inch of Israel and all Jews dead.’
He also replied to a post suggesting that Israel’s bombardment of Gaza was ‘large scale slaughter,’ which could displace Palestinians with the word ‘G-d willing.’
Dr. Darren Klugman has been placed on leave after making anti-Palestinian posts on X which referred to Palestinian people as ‘barbaric animals’
Klugman is employed by Johns Hopkins hospital in Baltimore. The facility said it is conducting a ‘thorough investigation’ following the outrage
In a statement, Johns Hopkins said: ‘We at Johns Hopkins share the concern of many about the deeply disturbing social media posts made by a faculty member in the School of Medicine regarding the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.
‘The faculty member who made these statements has been placed on leave, and thus will have no interaction with students or patients while we conduct a thorough investigation under our policies and procedures.
‘Johns Hopkins Medicine and Johns Hopkins University are committed to providing a safe and inclusive environment for working, learning and patient care for every member of our community and all those we serve.
‘Statements that explicitly threaten or extol violence against groups or individuals on the basis of national origin, race or religion violate our policies and do not represent our values.’
Colleagues of the Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, who did not want to be identified, told the Baltimore Banner his comments created ‘a culture of fear among doctors, staff and patients.’
They also questioned his ability to care for Muslim and Palestinian patients.
Zainab Chaudry, director of The Council on American-Islamic Relations, said: ‘These abhorrent comments reportedly made by Dr. Klugman are deeply troubling and must be addressed swiftly and transparently.
‘A doctor who harbors views that any ethnic group is less than human and expresses support for their extermination cannot be trusted to diligently uphold their ethical and moral obligation to serve the medical needs of their patient population to the best of their ability.’
Zainab Chaudry, director of The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which lodged a complaint branded the comments ‘abhorrent’
Following the controversy, Klugman emailed his hospital colleagues an apology for the ‘regrettable, hurtful messages’ WMAR2 News reports.
‘I cannot undo the harm and hurt that those messages caused and I am devastated by the impact it has had on my Hopkins family and others,’ he said.
His comments came in the wake of the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and has prompted a devastating wave of airstrikes on Gaza in response.
Since then, there have been several high-profile cases of individuals being fired for posting anti-Semitic comments online amid criticism of the retaliatory strikes, estimated to have killed at least 11,000 Gazans.
Among them was a Sarah Chowdhury, a government employee in Illinois who shared anti-Semitic posts online in the wake of the conflict. She subsequently apologized.