Yale is citing freedom of speech amid student anger after a professor called Israel a 'murderous genocidal settler state'

• A Yale University professor called Israel "genocidal" and "murderous."
• A student-led petition calling for her ouster has more than 44,000 signatures.
• Yale said the professor's social media posts "represent her own views."

A petition with tens of thousands of signatures is calling for Yale University to terminate a professor after she described Israel as "murderous" and "genocidal" on the day Hamas launched one of its deadliest attacks on the country.

In response to the backlash, Yale University has reasserted its commitment to freedom of speech.