Prof who lost U of I job over Israel Tweets is hired in Beirut

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The American University of Beirut says it has hired a professor whose anti-Israel Twitter messages led the University of Illinois to rescind a job offer.

American University spokeswoman Maha Al-Azar said in an email Thursday that Steven Salaita will be the university’s Edward Said (SEYE’-eed) Chair in American Studies. She says Salaita has a one-year appointment and will start Sept. 2. His salary was not available.

Salaita did not respond to a request for comment but posted on Twitter that he has missed teaching.

Salaita is suing the University of Illinois.

The university offered him a job starting in fall 2014 but just before he was to begin work the school rescinded the offer citing a series of sometimes profane tweets about Israel. Some university donors complained the tweets were anti-Semitic.