Israeli Air Force ends lectures of professor who called army soldiers ‘baby murderers’

By Faruk Hanedar, Başar Bayatlı and Rania Abu Shamala

JERUSALEM /ISTANBUL (AA) – The Israeli Air Force has terminated the lectures of a professor who called army soldiers “baby murderers.”

According to the Israeli state television, the lectures of Sebastian Ben Daniel, a professor in the computer science department at Ben-Gurion University, were abolished by the Air Force.

The move came after Ben Daniel described Israeli army forces as “baby murderers” in posts on his social media account.

Ben Daniel said in his posts that Israeli soldiers had “willingly carried out orders to kill children,” and that soldiers had “learned to kill Palestinian children.”

The lecturer also stated that the Israeli army is engaged in “ethnic cleansing” in the occupied West Bank, describing Israel as a system of “apartheid.”

According to Israeli media, some 26 professors at Ben-Gurion University wrote a letter to the university administration demanding Ben Daniel’s dismissal, arguing that he “harms the reputation of the university and its students.”

The Zionist organization "Im Tirtzu" also called for Ben Daniel’s dismissal, claiming that “there is no place for him in any academic institution in Israel.”

The Israeli army launched a surprise aerial campaign on the Gaza Strip on March 18, killing over 920 people, injuring more than 2,000 others, and shattering a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold in January.

More than 50,200 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and over 114,000 injured in a brutal Israeli military onslaught on Gaza since October 2023.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.