Arizona college professor faces backlash for telling ‘MAGA’ and ‘Zionists’ to ‘F–k Off’

An American Sign Language lecturer at the University of Arizona is facing calls to step down after posting the phrase “Fk Israel” on social media, asking his followers to “Fk off” if they are. “MAGA” or “Zionists”.

“If you’re MAGA, if you’re a Zionist, if you’re anti-human rights, this is not your space,” Jason Gervase said in a Dec. 18, 2025, video to his more than 100,000 TikTok followers.

Leora Rees, founder and executive director of StopAntismism – a US-based advocacy group – said: Jewish members and influencers The ASL community flagged Gervase’s comments, prompting her to send a letter to the university Tuesday morning demanding his termination.

“As a parent, I thought to myself, if I had a deaf child, what would happen if he or she was in a classroom with this kind of Biases “And this hate and this rhetoric,” Reese told the California Post. “I don’t want my child there. I don’t want to pay tuition for my child to be in these situations.

In separate social media posts, Gervase told his followers: “F—k Israel,” and appeared to agree with another comment that claimed Bondi Beach terrorist attack In December, there was a “false flag operation” carried out by Mossad.

“I know. This was published before this information came out,” Gervase replied.

In the letter sent to the university and obtained by The Post, Reese called Gervase’s behavior “extremely disturbing and fundamentally inconsistent with the responsibilities of a university educator.”

“Stop Antisemitism respectfully calls for the termination of Jason Gervase from his position at the University of Arizona and the clear public reaffirmation of your institution’s commitment to protecting Jewish students and employees from discrimination and hate,” the letter read.

Gervasi’s comments “do not represent the university’s position,” UofA spokesman Mitch Mieczyslaw told The Post.

“As a public university, the University of Arizona recognizes that employees have the right to express their personal opinions, even when those statements fall short of our values ​​of respect and civil discourse,” Mieczyslaw said. “Messages circulating on personal social media do not represent the university’s position.”

Gervasi responded to calls for his dismissal in a post on Threads, citing the First Amendment to the US Constitution and saying that “criticism of Zionism, which is a political and ideological movement, is not an attack on a people or a faith.”

“I am a dedicated professor, and I will not allow a coordinated digital mob to prosecute my private, protected speech,” Gervase said. “I am grateful for the principles of academic freedom that protect us all from the reach of those who wish to silence others.”

The university’s political activity policy states, “Employees should not allow their interest in a particular party, candidate, or political issue to influence the objectivity of the performance of their university duties.”

In the letter, Reese told Gervasi:Targeted hostile expressions Toward an essential element of Jewish identity,” he told the newspaper that there is a difference between protected speech and hate speech.

“Oftentimes, individuals like him, who express hate speech, like to use the First Amendment and free speech as a tool to justify their speech,” she said. “Individuals who disagree with it also have the same rights to criticize it, and hate speech often has consequences.”

Rose said whenever high-profile incidents happen — like the assassination of Charlie Kirk or recent events A joint American-Israeli attack on Iran – Anti-Semitism and hate speech tend to resurface.

“With this joint US-Israeli attack, we now see teachers and individuals standing alongside the Ayatollah and the Iranian regime against the democratic West who are trying to put an end to the fanatics who scream death to Israel and threaten to bomb us.”