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CNN splits with contributor over Israel-Palestine remarks
WASHINGTON, Nov 30, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – US network CNN said Thursday it
severed ties with a contributor after he made controversial comments
pertaining to Israel and Palestine at a UN event.
“Marc Lamont Hill is no longer under contract with CNN,” a spokesperson
said in a brief statement published on the television channel’s website.
Hill, who is a professor at Philadelphia’s Temple University, had one day
prior called to “free Palestine from the river to the sea” — a proposal some
have linked to the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
He made the remarks while speaking at a meeting at the United Nations held
for the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
Hill addressed the issue on Twitter, writing that “my reference to ‘river
to the sea’ was not a call to destroy anything or anyone.”
“It was a call for justice, both in Israel and in the West Bank/Gaza,” he
tweeted. “The speech very clearly and specifically said those things.”
“I support Palestinian freedom. I support Palestinian self-determination. I
am deeply critical of Israeli policy and practice,” he continued. “I do not
support anti-Semitism, killing Jewish people, or any of the other things
attributed to my speech.”
“I have spent my life fighting these things.”
BSS/AFP/RY/11:50 hrs