A dentist fromSouth Florida was reportedly fired on Wednesday, October 18, after he was seen in a video ripping down posters of Israeli hostages. Dr. Ahmed ElKoussa claimed he tore down the posters plastered across Miami to quell what he believes is racially charged hatred in the city.
A viral video shows two men, one of whom has been identified as Ahmed, taking down posters of the hostages.Over 200 people are beingheld hostages by Hamas. About 50 more victims who were kidnapped are being held by other “resistance factions and in other places,” Hamas military officials said, according to New York Post.
After the video surfaced, Ahmed was firedfrom his job at a Coral Gables dentistry. CG Smile said in a statement on Instagram, “We are very sad to see this situation upon waking up. Our office CG Smile 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, all of our social media pages and groups.”
{{/usCountry}}After the video surfaced, Ahmed was firedfrom his job at a Coral Gables dentistry. CG Smile said in a statement on Instagram, “We are very sad to see this situation upon waking up. Our office CG Smile 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, all of our social media pages and groups.”
{{/usCountry}}‘He was concerned that those posters could potentially trigger conflict’
However, Ahmed said he and his friend tore the images only in good faith. He said he was forced to do what he did after learning about a horrifying incident where a 71-year-old landlord in Illinois stabbed a six-year-old Palestinian American boy, Wadea Al-Fayoume, and injured his mother, because of their Muslim faith amid the Israel-Palestine war.
“His personal opinion was that posters from either side may potentially incite conflict and he did not want there to be any conflict escalation in his local community,” Hassan Shibly, ElKoussa’s representative and lead attorney at Muslim Legal, told New York Post.
“And he was concerned that those posters could potentially trigger conflict — rightfully or wrongfully, he was concerned that they would trigger and escalate conflict,” Hassan added. Hassan said that police asked Ahmed to plaster his own counter posters or remove the ones that exist when the dentist called them to raise his concerns. He is now receiving death threats and harassing calls, his attorney said.
“His intention was never to cause harm to anyone, nor did he at the time believe that doing so would do that. He was just concerned someone may see these posters and react with a hate crime and that may trigger a counter-hate crime and it just becomes endless conflict,” Hassan said. He added that his client apologises for hurting the Jewish community.
“We can critique his analysis, but it’s an analysis that he did on the spot after hearing that a 6-year-old child was stabbed 26 times,” Hassan said. Ahmed will now reportedly try to regain his job. His social media pages have been taken down.