NEW YORK—CNN has fired its contributor Marc Lamont Hill over his comments at a United Nations event in which he called for a “free Palestine from the river to the sea,” implying the elimination of Israel.
“Marc Lamont Hill is no longer under contract with CNN,” the cable news channel said.
Hill is a professor of media studies and urban education at Temple University.
In his remarks, he also endorsed the anti-Israel BDS (Boycott, Disinvestment, Sancxtions) movement, saying/ “We must promote nonviolence at every opportunity, but cannot endorse narrow politics that shames Palestinians for resisting, for refusing to do nothing in ethnic cleansing.”
Hill has a long history of anti-Israel statements. He drew condemnation from Jewish groups over his continued support of antisemitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
ZOA, the Zionist Organization o America, praised CNN for announcing the firing of Hill but expressed disappointment that the channel did not also announce the reason for the termination.
‘’In light of recent alarming, hateful violent attacks on Jews, including the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre of eleven innocent elderly Jewish men and women engaged in prayer, and Somali immigrant Mohamed Mohamed Abdi’s repeated attempts to ram his car into Jews in front of a Los Angeles synagogue this past Friday night (while screaming antisemitic epithets), it is vital for major national news outlets such as CNN to make it clear that calling for violence against Jews is beyond repugnant, wholly unacceptable and intolerable,’’ said ZOA President Morton Klein.
‘’ We urge CNN to rectify this missed opportunity,’’ he said.
ZOA aslo criticized Temple University for refusing to fire Hill or at least suspend him and remove him from the prestigious Steve Charles Chair that he holds.
In a statement, Temple University said : “Marc Lamont Hill does not represent Temple University and his views are his own. However, we acknowledge that he has a constitutionally protected right to express his opinion as a private citizen.”
