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CNN has severed ties with contributor Marc Lamont Hill following complaints by pro-Israel groups who condemned the statements he made to the United Nations yesterday. During his speech, he called for a “free Palestine from the river to the sea.”
The phrase is commonly used by members of Hamas and other Muslim organizations to mean the destruction of Israel as a nation.
CNN Fires Marc Lamont Hill
“We have an opportunity to not just offer solidarity in words but to commit to political action, grass-roots action, local action and international action that will give us what justice requires and that is a free Palestine from the river to the sea,” Hill said in his speech.
Hill was condemned by the Anti-Defamation League as well as the National Council of Young Israel on Thursday.
The outspoken leftist commentator and professor at Temple University has been active in promoting the BDS movement to pressure Israel into leaving “occupied” territories of “Palestine.” This was the first time Hill invoked the antisemtic phrase in public.
He claimed to not be calling for the destruction of Israel, instead saying he was promoting a shift to a secular government, but his denials fell flat and did not sway those calling for his removal from CNN.
Marc Lamont Hill is either lying or ignorant about the meaning of his own words
His excuse is either an outright lie or he’s completely ignorant of what the phrase means in modern times to Palestinians and Israelis alike. When phrases become popularly used with a particular connotation and accepted reference, those who say them cannot retroactively claim them to mean something else.
Outside of the BDS and pro-Israel movements in America and particularly on campuses (Hill is a professor at Temple University), it’s possible that many if not most Americans are unfamiliar with the phrase. But in Israel, the phrase has one meaning. Among Palestinians, the phrase has one meaning.
It’s a rare lucid moment for CNN brought about by backlash against Hill over his undeniable antisemitic statements to the United Nations. For once, CNN actually called an apple an apple.
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