Serving Williston Park, East Williston, Mineola, Albertson and Searingtown
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Friday, December 1, 2023
Vol. 72, No. 48
GUIDE TO THE HOLIDAYS
WATER, FIRE DISTRICT ELECTIONS
SANTOS FACES 3RD HOUSE EXPULSION VOTE
PAGES 21-32
PAGE 2, 3
PAGE 6
Mineola basks as village of champions Parade celebrates achievement BY B R A N D ON D U FF Y
PHOTO COURTESY OF MINEOLA PUBLIC SCHOOLS
The Village of Mineola held a parade of champions for Mineola High School’s marching band, boys varsity soccer and girls varsity volleyball teams on Wednesday, Nov. 22.
himself, alongside village, town and district officials, donning the red, black and What a time to be a Mineola Mus- white that each team sports. Not too far behind them was the tang. Friends, families and neighbors Mineola High School Homecoming Court waving to the lined up and down Jackcrowd and traveling in son Avenue WednesMore parade a Mustang float that day afternoon to give led both teams and the Mineola High School’s photos band, who were playing marching band, boys PAGE 10 patriotic melodies. varsity soccer and girls The crowd grew bigvarsity volleyball team a champions welcome after one of the ger and bigger as the procession neared most successful fall seasons in school the end at the intersection of Jackson and Marcellus Avenue, which had hunhistory. Leading the walk down Jackson was dreds of attendees cheering, shaking Mayor Paul Pereira, a current teacher pompoms and waving cowbells. in the district and former soccer coach Continued on Page 42
Israel, Gaza conflict roils NYU Langone BY B R A N D ON D U FF Y NYU Langone has been sued by a prominent cancer specialist who said he was “unceremoniously dumped” by the medical center after being fired for his pro-Israel posts in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack. Dr. Benjamin Neel, who is Jewish, was the director of the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Center in Manhattan
for nine years before being suspended and then fired on Nov. 10. Neel filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court earlier this month alleging that he was fired over his reposting of satirical cartoons that were critical of Hamas. Neel still is a tenured professor with Langone and oversees a laboratory, but lost the director role that gave him over half his annual income, the suit claims.
Neel reposted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, mostly political cartoons that were critical of Western defenders of Hamas’ attack, questioning whether negotiating a two-state solution is possible with Hamas in power and the accuracy of the list of approximately 7,000 people said to have been killed by Israel’s bombings issued by the Gaza Health Ministry. Neel is seeking over $500,000 in damages, claiming his 40-year reputation as a renowned cancer specialist is in “tatters.” Neel is at least the second Langone employee to be relieved of their duties for social media postings on the ongoing war. Dr. Zaki
Masoud, a resident at NYU Langone– Long Island in Mineola, was fired earlier this month for making antisemitic statements on social media. StopAntisemites, a non-partisan organization that combats antisemitism, posted on X in October screenshots of social media posts from Masoud calling for the support of Palestinian resistance. “Let them call it terrorism. Extremism. Barbarianism,” the Instagram post shared by Masoud, who is Palestinian, said. “We call it liberation. Decolonization. Resistance. Revolution.” Langone said on X that Masoud was removed from service and it was beginning a process to terminate his
employment. “We will not tolerate reprehensible statements condoning hatred or violence, which have no place at our institution,” the medical facility said. “All employees are held to this high standard.” Neel contended in his lawsuit that he was fired by Langone so the institution could appear neutral in limiting political and religious expression. “Dr. Neel became a political casualty of NYULH’s effort to terminate Dr. Masoud and other physicians: Dr. Neel was offered up as sacrificial lamb so that NYULH could feign impartiality in its effort to curb political and religious expression,” the suit claimed. Continued on Page 43