Palestinian Journalists Syndicate accuses CNN of consenting to 'Zionist lobby'

“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.”

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Updated: DECEMBER 3, 2018 01:12
The CNN building (L) in Dubai Media City Park March 17, 2016. (photo credit: REUTERS/RUSSELL BOYCE)
The CNN building (L) in Dubai Media City Park March 17, 2016.
(photo credit: REUTERS/RUSSELL BOYCE)
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate has accused CNN of “total acquiescence to pressure from the Zionist lobby” for its decision to sever ties with contributor Marc Lamont Hill, who called for a “free Palestine from the river to the sea.”
The group claimed on Sunday that the “Zionist lobby controls most of the American media,” and invited the liberal pundit to visit “occupied Palestine.”
Hill, who is also a professor at Temple University in Philadelphia, made the controversial remarks last week during a meeting of the United Nations on the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
“We must advocate and promote non-violence,” he said in his comments. “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 Ramallah-based Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, which is dominated by loyalists of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s ruling Fatah faction, expressed full solidarity with Hill.
It invited him to visit “occupied Palestine” so that Palestinians would have a chance to express their appreciation and gratitude for him and “brief him on the suffering of the Palestinians and Israeli racist policies.”
The Palestinian group said it wanted to honor Hill for his “courageous positions.” CNN’s decision to sever ties with Hill, it added, was a “blatant violation of freedom of expression and blind bias in favor of the occupation and colonialism.”
The decision, it added, “exposes the falsity of CNN’s claim to be objective and neutral.” The group also accused CNN of “abandoning the ethics of journalism” by firing the American academic.
Palestinian journalists are expected to gather on Monday at the Bedouin shantytown of Khan al-Ahmar east of Jerusalem – whose residents are facing eviction – to express their support for Hill.‭‮