Citigroup fires personal banker for 'revolting antisemitic' comments on social media

The post linked Israel to the recent escalation in Gaza, drawing widespread condemnation on social media.

Husainova's remark, "No wonder why Hitler wanted to get rid of all of them," triggered widespread outrage after the non-partisan group ‘Stop AntiSemitism’ posted a screenshot of it on the platform X.

The group immediately brought Husainova’s remarks to the attention of the investment banking group, tweeting, "Is this vile antisemite your employee, Citi?"

In a prompt response, Citigroup issued a statement emphasizing its stance against antisemitism and hate speech: "We strongly condemn antisemitism and other hate speech."

The company also declared that they were taking appropriate disciplinary action and investigating the matter.

In a follow-up statement, Citigroup confirmed that they had ended 25-year-old Husainova's employment and reasserted their stance against antisemitism: "We terminated the employment of the person who posted the revolting antisemitic comment on social media. We condemn antisemitism and all hate speech and do not tolerate it in our bank."

Stop AntiSemitism expressed their gratitude to Citigroup for the prompt action, stating, "Thank you @Citi for saying NO! to antisemitism." Their tweet garnered support from several X users, who commended Citigroup for their swift response to the issue.

"Well done. We must appreciate Citi for swift action," one user wrote on X. Another person expressed gratitude, saying, "Thank you Citi for doing the right thing."

Another comment read: “She went to Brooklyn College, a college attended by many Jewish students and with a large Jewish faculty. We had some very good debates there because the student body is so diverse. Apparently none got through to her.”

Meanwhile, Stop AntiSemitism also flagged the disparaging comments against Jews by Sarah Chowdhury, a lawyer from Illinois in the state’s comptroller’s office. She was removed from work after her antisemitic social media messages were shared with the authorities in her workplace.

Husainova and Chowdhury made the comments Husainova follows a different controversy that erupted after a section of students from Harvard and Columbia University in the United States argued that Hamas' attacks were not isolated incidents and that, in their view, the Israeli government had subjected Palestinians to what they described as an "open-air prison" for over two decades.

Some business leaders had recently stated that they might not hire students who signed a letter attributing blame to Israel for the violent actions of Hamas.

Husainova had been employed at Citi for approximately two years.

Israel attacked Gaza following a sudden assault by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas on October 7, which resulted in the loss of over 1300 lives.