Editor Canned for Retweeting the Onion's Gaza Satire

Michael Eisen of eLife, who's Jewish with Israeli family, fired for satirical post on Palestinian civilians
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 24, 2023 10:55 AM CDT

The editor-in-chief of a prominent science journal has been fired after he retweeted an Onion article related to the Israel-Hamas war. Mediaite reports that Michael Eisen, who heads up the eLife journal and also serves as a geneticist at the University of California, let the world know of his dismissal on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. "I have been informed that I am being replaced as the Editor in Chief of @eLife for retweeting a @TheOnion piece that calls out indifference to the lives of Palestinian civilians," Eisen tweeted on Monday afternoon.

The original Onion post, which Eisen retweeted on Oct. 13, linked to an article titled "Dying Gazans Criticized for Not Using Last Words to Condemn Hamas." Eisen wrote above the post: "The Onion speaks with more courage, insight and moral clarity than the leaders of every academic institution put together. I wish there were a @TheOnion university." Some researchers immediately called for Eisen's resignation, leading to an elaboration from him the next day, per Science.

Eisen tweeted: "Every sane person on Earth is horrified and traumatized by what Hamas did and wants it to never happen again. All the more so as a Jew with Israeli family. But I am also horrified by the collective punishment already being meted out on Gazans, and the worse that is about to come." After Eisen announced his firing, a petition from a group of life scientists soon emerged going to bat for the former EIC. "The right to express dissenting views is a cornerstone of our intellectual mission as scientists and citizens," the petition reads. "Open debate in this country should never include promotion of violence, but it must allow the articulation of views that make some people uncomfortable."

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Lara Urban, an editor on eLife's staff, followed up Eisen's announcement with one of her own: She's also stepping down, in support of him. His dismissal "sets a dangerous precedent for freedom of speech in our academic community, and it validates cyber-bullying," she wrote in a statement. Urban wasn't the only staffer to stand behind her former boss. At least three other eLife editors also tendered their resignations, including senior editor Molly Przeworski, who called the decision to fire Eisen "both discriminatory and a dangerous precedent." "It is also a violation of @eLife's own code of conduct, to be 'respectful of differing opinions, viewpoints, and experiences,'" she added. (More Israel-Hamas war stories.)

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