Florida nonprofit parts with pediatrician calling for ‘elimination of the state of Israel’ after JI exposé
The CEO of OneJax said the doctor’s extremist posts cannot ‘undermine the decades of work’ the group ‘has dedicated to fostering mutual respect and understanding’
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Waiting room of a pediatrics department
A Jacksonville, Fla., nonprofit that promotes diversity to build local civic engagement announced on Thursday that a pediatrician with a lengthy history of incendiary anti-Zionist posts on social media will step down from its board of directors, citing a recent investigation by Jewish Insider that uncovered the doctor’s offensive posts.
Dr. Mobeen Rathore, a pediatrician and infectious diseases expert at the University of Florida, had shared posts that referred to Zionism as “the root of all evil” and called for the elimination of the state of Israel. He has since made his account on X private.
“Words are powerful and we should strive to use them as a tool for connection, not division,” OneJax CEO Elizabeth Anderson said in an email to the foundation’s supporters on Thursday. “We cannot and will not allow the actions of any single individual [to] undermine the decades of work OneJax has dedicated to fostering mutual respect and understanding.”
Rathore is a past chair of the board of OneJax, a 55-year-old organization that “envisions a united Jacksonville.” According to OneJax’s website, the organization’s mission is “to foster mutual respect and build bridges of understanding among people of all beliefs, faiths and backgrounds in a spirit of shared humanity.”
In her email, Anderson explained why the decision to part with Rathore is not a question of free speech, but rather an assessment of the impact that one’s rhetoric can have on others and on the mission of an organization they serve.
“While we believe in the fundamental right to free speech and recognize that people hold a broad range of beliefs and perspectives, we also know that free speech carries both the right to express ideas and the responsibility to ensure that our words do not undermine the dignity or humanity of others,” she wrote. “When speech fosters understanding, it strengthens our shared commitment to respect and inclusion, but when it spreads misinformation or dehumanizes, it erodes the very bridges we seek to build.”
Rathore did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.