The University of Kentucky suspended a professor for antisemitic remarks.

The University of Kentucky suspended a law professor after it was discovered that he had drafted and disseminated a petition for "all countries in the world to wage war against Israel immediately".

The text insisted "until it submits permanently and unconditionally to the government of Palestine, throughout the territory from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea."

The author of the document is Ramsi Woodcock, professor at the J. David Rosenberg College of Law at that public university, one of the most renowned academic institutions in the state.

In the petition, Woodcock describes Israel as "the last great Western colony remaining in Africa or the Middle East" and accuses the Jewish state of having committed "genocide, extermination, and forced displacement against the native population of Palestine since its creation in 1948."

The university's president, Eli Capilouto, strongly condemned the document, describing it as a call to hatred and violence: "We have become aware of an online petition that calls for the destruction of a people based on their national origin. It was apparently written and is being widely disseminated by an employee of our university," he stated.

"We condemn any call to violence. The views expressed in that petition in no way represent the values of this institution. They are expressions of hatred. If the statements are correctly attributed to the employee in question, they are repugnant."

As an immediate measure, the university has removed Woodcock from all his teaching and classroom duties, pending a disciplinary investigation.

The Kentucky Jewish Council, chaired by Rabbi Shlomo Litvin, welcomed the professor's suspension and expressed its support for the ongoing disciplinary process: "This is not about freedom of expression, but about incitement to the extermination of a sovereign state and its people. We are relieved to know that the university is acting seriously."