CNN Fires Marc Lamont Hill After Anti-Israel Comments

CNN fired contributor Marc Lamont Hill Thursday following his apparent call for the destruction of the state of Israel and his defense of violence by Palestinians during an appearance at the United Nations.

A CNN spokesperson told Mediaite, “Marc Lamont Hill is no longer under contract with CNN.”

The terse statement simply reflects Hill’s employment status but does not say anything about Israel or condemn his remarks.

Hill made a number of disparaging comments towards the Jewish state Wednesday, saying that he wanted a “free Palestine from the river to the sea,” which means the destruction of the current state of Israel, as explained by Breitbart News’ Joel Pollak.

Hill also defended Palestinian violence for political ends, saying:

If we are standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people, we must recognize the right of an occupied people to defend itself. We must prioritize peace. But we must not romanticize or fetishize it. We must advocate and promote nonviolence at every opportunity, but we cannot endorse a narrow politics of respectability that shames Palestinians for resisting, for refusing to do nothing in the fact of state violence and ethnic cleansing.”

He took to Twitter following the backlash to defend his comments, insisting that he did not in fact call for the destruction of Israel.

However, he also said, “I believe in a single secular democratic state for everyone. This is the only way that historic Palestine will be free.”

The establishment of a “single secular democratic state,” would, of course, mean the replacement of the current Jewish state.

Hill sent several tweets Thursday afternoon, once again defending his comments. None of his tweets mentioned a separation from CNN.