'No wonder Hitler wanted...': Citigroup employee fired for hailing Hitler after Gaza hospital blast

Citigroup recently fired one of its employees, Nozima Husainova, a personal banker, over a post that reeked anti-Semitism.

Twenty-five-year-old Husainova, in the wake of the Gaza Strip hospital bombing which claimed hundreds of lives, posted on her Instagram page a remark that attracted much backlash. "No wonder why Hitler wanted to get rid of all of them," she wrote, in what appeared to be an obvious praise for the Holocaust.

A smiley emoji accompanied her comment. The comment was deleted later.

While officials in Gaza blamed an Israeli airstrike for the hospital carnage, Israel denied it was involved in the attack and released a flurry of video, audio and other information that it said showed the blast was due to a missile misfire by Islamic Jihad, another militant group operating in Gaza. The Islamic Jihad dismissed that claim. The US too had said its analysis indicates that Israel was not responsible for the deadly blast.

After it was brought to Citigroup's notice, a spokesperson from the company, in a post on X, said the company is "taking appropriate disciplinary action."

"We are investigating this matter and taking appropriate disciplinary action. We strongly condemn antisemitism and other hate speech," the tweet read.

The comment had come to the attention of Stop AntiSemitism, an X page with the description: "Leading non-partisan American based organization fighting antisemitism," which brought it to the notice of Citigroup.

After the employee was fired, the page said in a tweet: "Nozima Husainova has been fired from Citi."

"A spokesman for Citi said Husainova's comments were 'revolting' and said hate speech would not be tolerated in their bank."

"We terminated the employment of the person who made the revolting antisemitic comment on social media. We condemn antisemitism and all hate speech and do not tolerate it in our bank," Daily Mail quoted a Citi spokesperson as saying.