A South Florida dentist was fired Wednesday after he was caught on camera tearing down Israeli hostage posters plastered throughout Miami, an act he said was aimed at quelling racially charged hate in the city.
Dr. Ahmed ElKoussa was quickly identified as one of two men who on Tuesday destroyed banners of the approximately 200 people kidnapped by Hamas that were posted throughout the trendy Brickell neighborhood.
The viral footage Shared by the organization Stop Antisemitism showed the couple walking down a busy street with handfuls of crumpled paper, sparking protests on social media.
ElKoussa was fired from his job at a Coral Gables dental clinic the next morning.
“We are very sad to wake up to this situation,” CG Smile said in a statement.
Miami – Two men were seen removing posters of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas in the Brickell area.
The men appear to be dentist Ahmed ElKoussa (left) and Xave Ramoul (right). pic.twitter.com/cl2Sec8WlA
– Stop antisemitism (@StopAntisemites) October 18, 2023
“Our CG Smile office is not in favor of any of the actions taken by Dr. ElKoussa. We do not support terrorist groups, actions or supporters.
“He has been removed from our staff, from all our social media pages and groups.”
ElKoussa, however, claims he acted in good faith when he and his friend took down the images.
Dr. Ahmed ElKoussa was fired from his dental office less than a day after he was caught tearing down Israeli hostage signs in a trendy Miami neighborhood. Stop anti-Semitism/X
The dentist said he was forced to act after learning that a 71-year-old homeowner in Illinois fatally stabbed Wadea Al-Fayoume, a Palestinian-American boy who had recently celebrated his sixth birthday, 26 times and injured his mother because to his Muslim faith. and in response to the war between Israel and Hamas.
“His personal view was that posters from either side could potentially incite conflict and he did not want there to be any escalation of the conflict in his local community,” Hassan Shbly, a representative for ElKoussa and senior attorney at Muslim Legal, told The Post.
How celebrities, schools and companies have reacted to the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel
“And he was concerned that those signs could spark a conflict; rightly or wrongly, he was concerned that they would trigger and escalate the conflict.”
ElKoussa called police to express concern about the flyers and was told to put up his own signs or remove existing ones, which ElKoussa opted to do, Shbly said.
The viral video shows two men tearing off the steering wheels in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood. Local 10
The subsequent outrage was swift and terrifying: since then he received death threats and harassing calls, the very conflict he was trying to avoid, according to the lawyer.
“His intention was never to cause harm to anyone, nor did he believe at the time that he would do so. He was just concerned that someone might see these signs and react with a hate crime and that that could trigger a hate countercrime and turn into a never-ending conflict,” Shbly said, adding that ElKoussa apologized for harming the Jewish community.
“We can criticize his analysis, but it is an analysis he made on the spot after learning that a 6-year-old boy had been stabbed 26 times.”
ElKoussa will seek to regain his job, which Shbly said he was unfairly fired from in violation of his contract.
The dentist’s social media accounts have since been deleted and a Yelp page about his dentistry has been flooded with reviews criticizing him for his actions.
“If you’re looking for a dentist who tears up pamphlets of babies kidnapped by terrorists, this is your man. “I wouldn’t let him touch my mouth,” wrote one Floridian.
One reviewer from California wrote: “This dentist is hostile and racist! What kind of quality of care can I expect from a person who has tendencies toward anti-Semitism?
ElKoussa’s counterpart was identified as Xave Ramoul, an Instagram influencer who had almost 35,000 followers before his page was deactivated.
The pair are the latest in a series of public taunts from the Stop Antisemitism organization after sharing videos of them tearing down posters of hostages from the war between Israel and Hamas.
Leaflets with images of missing civilians in Israel who have been kidnapped by Hamas have appeared across the country since the terrorist group’s attack on October 7. Local 10
Leaflets with images of missing civilians in Israel who have been kidnapped by Hamas have appeared across the country since the terrorist group launched its surprise attack on October 7, killing 1,300 Israelis.
Yazmeen Deyhimi, a New York University student and former Anti-Defamation League intern, publicly apologized after being identified as one of three students caught vandalizing banners posted outside the city’s campus.
Follow The Post’s live blog for the latest on Hamas’ attack on Israel.
Deyhimi attributed his behavior to misplaced anger amid “very volatile times.”
Two teenage girls, who have not yet been identified, were caught destroying the same signs on the Upper East Side while a passerby filmed and questioned them.
Around 3,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip, while nearly 10,000 have been injured, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. Almost two-thirds of those who have died were children.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn