Credit: Wikipedia / Mark Lamont Hill,  is an American academic, author, activist, and television personality. 

By Gary Raynaldo    DIPLOMATIC TIMES

CNN has a lot of explaining to do over its decision to fire liberal pundit Mark Lamont Hill for comments he made in support of Palestinian human rights before the United Nations.  Pro-Israel viewers complained that Hill said “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” suggesting Hill is  a supporter of the Hamas Islamist fundamentalist organization and genocide of Jewish people.  Hill, who is also a professor at Temple University in Philadelphia, made the controversial comments during a meeting at the United Nations held for the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on Wednesday. 

“Marc Lamont Hill is no longer under contract with  CNN,”

a spokesperson for CNN confirmed in a short statement.

Speaking before the UN,  Hill said “we must advocate and promote non-violence,” but added that “we cannot endorse a narrow politics of respectability that shames Palestinians for resisting, for refusing to do nothing in the face of state violence and ethnic cleansing.” The portion of his speech that got Hill  in trouble was when he also called for a “free Palestine from the river to the sea.” The comments were immediately condemned by critics who said Hill was calling for the end of the Israeli state. Jewish and pro-Israel groups said Hill’s remarks were anti-Semitic.

Hill  Denies He Is Anti-Semitic, Denies suggesting A Call For The Genocide Of Jewish People:

“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,”   Hill wrote.  “My reference to ‘river to the sea’ was not a call to destroy anything or anyone,” Hill continued in a separate tweet. “It was a call for justice, both in Israel and in the West Bank/Gaza. The speech very clearly and specifically said those things. No amount of debate will change what I actually said or what I meant.”

“All he’s saying is that Palestinian babies deserve the same rights as Israeli babies,”

Harvard professor and public intellectual Cornel West says CNN was wrong to fire Temple professor Marc Lamont Hill.

Another Perspective On Hill’s Words Before The World Body Of the United Nations: 

“Hill based his speech very much on facts. He cited Israeli laws that discriminate against Palestinians; the use of arbitrary violence by the Israeli security apparatus; the use of torture against Palestinian detainees; the denial of due process to Palestinians by Israeli courts; the restriction on movement in the occupied territories, etc – all violations that have been well-documented and condemned by the UN and a myriad of human rights organisations.

aljezeera.com 

“Yet CNN, which last year adopted a new slogan – “Facts first” – did not seem to agree with these facts. After pro-Israel organisations like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) condemned the speech, the TV station was quick to sever its ties with Hill, ”  aljezeera reports.     “While CNN did not announce why it chose to do so, it is clear to many of us it caved in to pressure from pro-Israel groups. Hill was accused of being anti-Semitic for using the phrase “free Palestine from the river to the sea”, which supposedly is a “Hamas slogan” and a call for the destruction of Israel. Well, it is neither.”