The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) has suspended Dr. Rupa Marya, a professor of internal medicine, following social media posts accusing Israel of genocide and expressing concern over an Israeli student’s service in the IDF.
Dr. Marya reportedly posted on her X profile, now deleted, that UCSF medical students were “concerned that a first year student from Israel is in their class,” questioning how the issue should be addressed “in our professional ranks.”
The Israeli consulate in San Francisco condemned Dr. Marya’s posts, claiming she “regularly engaged in deceitful anti-Israel propaganda” and “is now harassing and potentially inciting against a first year medical student at USCF based on their Israeli national origin.” California State Senator Scott Wiener, a progressive Jewish representative, also criticized her statements, saying Dr. Marya promotes antisemitic conspiracies and creates a “toxic, hostile environment” at UCSF.
In response to the backlash, UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood issued a statement to the campus community, decrying any targeting of students based on nationality, which he said “fosters hostility or discrimination.”
Without mentioning Marya by name, Hawgood wrote, “I have taken immediate action to address this situation.” UCSF has not specified disciplinary details, but Dr. Marya later confirmed her suspension on Substack, claiming it was due to her stance on Palestinian liberation.
Marya described the suspension as the result of a “targeted harassment campaign” from university donors demanding her termination and the revocation of her medical license. She reported receiving threats since November 2023.
This incident follows previous controversies involving Dr. Marya, who has accused “Zionist doctors” of causing healthcare issues in the U.S., describing Zionism as a “racist ideology” and calling it a “structural impediment to health equity.” UCSF condemned her posts but did not mention her by name.
In another post, she defended a woman who expressed concern about a situation where Arab, Muslim, South Asian and Black patients are treated by Zionist doctors and nurses.
Despite wide criticism of her posts and condemnation from the university, Dr. Marya remains highly regarded in certain academic circles. She has received numerous awards, is regularly invited to lectures and conferences and has tens of thousands of social media followers. Marya is also known as the lead singer and guitarist of the alternative band she founded, Rupa & the April Fishes.
In 2015, Marya won a class-action lawsuit against music giant Warner Music, challenging its copyright claims on Marilyn Monroe’s rendition of Happy Birthday to You. The fight was ideological for her—returning the iconic song’s rights to the public domain.
Anti-Israel protests on US campuses
Her band often performs at pro-Palestinian rallies supporting a boycott of Israel, and in one post, they wrote that they were “proud to be part of the BDS soundtrack” and hoped listeners would hear them on their way to protests. “We stand with the Palestinian people in their long struggle against apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and now what we witness as genocide,” the post read.
Following her suspension, the advocacy group Palestine Legal announced it would support her, accusing the university of a “discriminatory campaign of intimidating and silencing students” and faculty who “have spoken out against Israel’s genocidal attacks on Palestinians.”
“Dr. Rupa Marya, a professor of medicine who has spent decades documenting the impact of structural racism on health and medicine and advocating for health equity, is one of the latest targets of the institution,” the group said in a statement.
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