TEL AVIV – A day after a CNN photojournalist resigned over a tweet referring to “Zionist pigs,” another CNN staffer issued an apology for offensive tweets, including one that said, “I love you Hitler.”
Karim Farid, who hosts a tech show on CNN Arabic, said he was “horrified” to read his old Arabic-language tweets, which included praise for the Nazi dictator over the latter’s “determination in reaching his goal.”
“I was horrified to re-read some of my old tweets from 2011 during the emotional Arab spring events in Cairo. I have never been a supporter of Hitler or any of his beliefs and actions and these translated tweets are not a reflection of who I am and what I believe in,” he said in a statement Saturday.
He added that he “deeply” apologizes and had learned from his mistake.
A day before, Mohammed Elshamy, a 25-year-old photojournalist who began working at CNN headquarters in Atlanta in January, quit after an employee at Israel’s Government Press Office flagged some of his antisemitic tweets.
He condemned “Zionist pigs” and praised a Palestinian terror attack in which a 14-year-old girl and a Christian woman studying in Israel were killed.
“More than 4 jewish pigs killed in #Jerusalem today by the Palestinian bomb explode. #Israel #Gaza,” he wrote.
“Israel is the main enemy of Egypt … despite rulers who lick Jewish legs,” read another tweet.
He also slammed the UK soccer team Arsenal for hiring “shitty Jewish idiot” Yossi Benayoun.
“Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuk,” he wrote.
“The network has accepted the resignation of a photo editor, who joined CNN earlier this year, after antisemitic statements he’d made in 2011 came to light,” the US network’s spokesman Matt Dornic said in a statement. “CNN is committed to maintaining a workplace in which every employee feels safe, secure and free from discrimination regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation or religion.”