There is at least one person too polarizing for cable news, but apparently just fine for academia. Marc Lamont Hill was dropped by CNN Thursday after he made comments about boycotting Israel and calling for a “free Palestine from the river to the sea.”
The phrase “from the river to the sea” is a catchphrase used by Palestinian terrorists who call for the annihilation of Israel.
But it’s perhaps no surprise that academia would still support him.
On Thursday, Temple University stood by Hill, a professor of media studies and urban education at the Philadelphia college, showing no concern regarding his violence-inciting speech and issuing a statement defending him.
“Marc Lamont Hill has been quoted extensively over the last 24 hours. 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,” a Temple spokesperson said.
Hill had come under criticism for his remarks during a Wednesday meeting of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People in observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. He accused the Israeli government of “normalizing settler colonialism.”
“If we are standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people, we must recognize the right of an occupied people to defend itself,” Hill said during a portion of his speech comparing the Palestinian movement with the American civil-rights movement. “We must prioritize peace, but we must not romanticize or fetishize it.”
Media watchdogs pointed out that Hill’s controversial comment at the U.N. didn’t jibe with CNN’s anti-hate programming. The network parted ways with him after hours of speculation over the situation, during which many media critics questioned whether or not CNN would take action.
- Metro Voice News and wire services
