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Rashida Talib Condemns CNN For Firing Marc Lamont Hill Over Anti-Israel Comments

LEFT: REUTERS/Rebecca Cook RIGHT: Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)

Mike Brest Reporter
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Incoming Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Talib condemned CNN on Thursday for firing contributor Marc Lamont Hill after he gave a speech critical of Israel to the United Nations.

Tlaib, who became the first Muslim congresswoman alongside Ilhan Omar, tweeted, “Calling out the oppressive policies in Israel, advocating for Palestinians to be respected, and for Israelis and Palestinians alike to have peace and freedom is not antisemitic. @CNN, we all have a right to speak up about injustice any and everywhere.”

Marc Lamont Hill is no longer under contract with CNN,” a CNN spokesperson told The Daily Caller on Thursday afternoon, a day after his speech at the U.N. gained headlines and raised eyebrows. (RELATED: CNN Sacks Contributor Marc Lamont Hill After Controversial Israel-Palestine Comments)

During his speech, Lamont Hill stated:

Tactics otherwise divergent from Dr. King or Gandhi were equally important to preserving safety and attaining freedom. If we are in true solidarity, we must allow them the same range of opportunity and political possibility. We must recognize the right of an occupied people to defend themselves.

NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 07: Executive producer Rob Hardy and moderator Marc Lamont HIll attend BET Presents "An Evening With 'The Quad'" At The Paley Center on December 7, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for BET Networks)

NEW YORK, NY – DECEMBER 07: Executive producer Rob Hardy and moderator Marc Lamont HIll attend BET Presents “An Evening With ‘The Quad'” At The Paley Center on December 7, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for BET Networks)

“We must prioritize peace, but we must not romanticize or fetishize it. We must promote non-violence at every opportunity, but cannot endorse narrow politics that shames Palestinians for resisting, for refusing to do nothing in ethnic cleansing,” he continued. “Justice requires a Free Palestine from the River to the Sea.”

“From the river to the sea” is a political slogan used by Hamas and Palestinian nationalists who believe in eliminating the state of Israel, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

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