It is being reported that during a Wednesday speech to the United Nations, CNN commentator Marc Lamont Hill called for the destruction of the nation of Israel.
Hill’s speech focused on the Palestinian people’s hope for their own statehood as he called them to utilize all avenues to resist Israel.
In the speech, Hill did not just embolden those who believe there should be a Palestinian state but also appealed to the international community to give leniency for potential violence. Comparing the Palestinian-Israel struggle to that of African Americans in the United States, Hill said Palestinians should be allowed to explore a full range of political or even violent tactics against Israel.
The international community, Hill argued, should boycott Israel and should instead help those seeking to end it.
According to a Washington Examiner op-ed, the U.N. event commemorated the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People where Hill used language like “from the river to the sea,” a phrase often used by those who advocate for the elimination of Israel.
“Contrary to western mythology, black resistance to American apartheid did not come purely through Ghandi and nonviolence,” Hill said, per the Washington Examiner op-ed. “Rather, slave revolts and self-defense and tactics otherwise divergent from Dr. King or Mahatma Gandhi were equally important to preserving safety and attaining freedom. If we are to operate in true solidarity with the Palestinian people, we must allow the Palestinian people the same range of opportunity and political possibility.”
“If we are in true solidarity, we must allow them the same range of opportunity and political possibility,” Hill continued. “We must recognize the right of an occupied people to defend themselves. We must prioritize peace, but we must not romanticize or fetishize it. We must promote nonviolence at every opportunity, but cannot endorse narrow politics that shames Palestinians for resisting, for refusing to do nothing in ethnic cleansing.”
He concluded: “Justice requires a free Palestine from the river to the sea.”
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Here’s more on Hill, from the op-ed:
The phrase “from the river to the sea” has been a rallying cry for Hamas and other terrorist groups seeking the elimination of Israel, as a Palestinian state stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea would mean that Israel would be wiped off the map.
Hill’s remarks are the latest example of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic statements.
Last year, Hill tweeted that it was “offensive” for President Trump to call on Palestinians to “reject hatred and terrorism.” Hill also defended a terrorist who killed two Jewish students and praised anti-Semitic leader Louis Farrakhan.
As the Jerusalem Post reports, the speech was widely criticized, including a response from the Anti-Defamation League who said to the Jewish Journal that it was “divisive” and “destructive.”
“Those calling for ‘from the river to the sea’ are calling for an end to the State of Israel,” said Sharon Nazarian, ADL’s senior vice president for international affairs, per the report. “It is a shame that once again, this annual event at the United Nations does not promote constructive pathways to ‘Palestinian solidarity’ and a future of peace, but instead divisive and destructive action against Israel.”
