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CNN Middle East editor leaves cable network after tweeting fond farewell to Hezbollah leader

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Octavia Nasr, CNN’s senior editor of Mideast affairs, has left the cable news network after posting a Twitter message lamenting the death of Hezbollah terrorist Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadallah.

“Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah … One of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot.” Nasr wrote on Sunday.

Reaction to her inflammatory post was overwhelmingly negative.

“Ms. Nasr should apologize to all victims of Hezbollah terrorism whose loved ones don’t share her sadness over the passing of one of Hezbollah’s giants — Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. “We call on CNN to formally repudiate her remarks.”

The Jerusalem Post reported, “Nasr’s remarks drew fire from the Honest Reporting media watchdog, which asked on its website, ‘Is Nasr a Hezbollah sympathizer?’ This is disturbing enough given that the group is designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and is committed to the destruction of Israel. And which of Fadlallah’s individual views does Nasr admire?” CNN did not respond to a request for comment by press time.”

The Daily Caller has obtained the memo which is now circulating at CNN explaining the decision.

From Parisa Khosravi – SVP CNN International Newsgathering

I had a conversation with Octavia this morning and I want to share with you that we have decided that she will be leaving the company. As you know, her tweet over the weekend created a wide reaction. As she has stated in her blog on CNN.com, she fully accepts that she should not have made such a simplistic comment without any context whatsoever. However, at this point, we believe that her credibility in her position as senior editor for Middle Eastern affairs has been compromised going forward.

As a colleague and friend we’re going to miss seeing Octavia everyday. She has been an extremely dedicated and committed part of our team. We thank Octavia for all of her hard work and we certainly wish her all the best.

Parisa.

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