Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Rutgers Prof. Blames Jews For Armenian Genocide In Anti-Semitic Facebook Posts

A Rutgers University professor has published multiple anti-Semitic social media posts in recent months — including blaming the Armenian genocide on Jews and describing Judaism as “the most racist religion in the world.”

Michael Chikindas, a microbiology professor at Rutgers’ department of food science, posted a flurry of anti-Jewish conspiracies on Facebook in the spring. Chikindas posted the anti-Semitic hook-nosed meme “the happy merchant” and described orthodox Judaism and Zionism as “the best of two forms of racism.”

The months-old posts (which have since been deleted) were first reported by the site Israellycool on Monday. It’s unclear why the posts bubbled to the surface only now.

When reached for comment by the Algemeiner, Chikindas denied he was anti-Semitic, saying that he was previously married to a Jewish woman, had a Jewish child and claimed Jewish roots himself.

A Rutgers spokesperson told The Algemeiner that the professor’s posts were “antithetical” to the “university’s principles and values of respect for people of all backgrounds, including, among other groups, our large and vibrant Jewish community.”

Email Sam Kestenbaum at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.

In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.

At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.

Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly. 

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.