Marc Lamont Hill Image by Getty Images

CNN fired political commentator Marc Lamont Hill on Thursday, the day after he said at the United Nations that there needs to be “a free Palestine from the river to the sea,” which was interpreted as meaning the need for the end of Israel, Mediaite reported.

“Marc Lamont Hill is no longer under contract with CNN,” a CNN spokesperson told Mediaite.

In his speech, Hill called on countries to boycott Israel.

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“We have an opportunity to not just offer solidarity in words but to commit to political action, grass-roots action, local action and international action that will give us what justice requires and that is a free Palestine from the river to the sea,” he said.

That phrase is used by Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups, and implies the removal of Israel so the state of Palestine can span from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

Hill, who is also a professor at Temple University, denied that that was his intention.

“I support Palestinian freedom. I support Palestinian self-determination. I am deeply critical of Israeli policy and practice,” he tweeted. “I do not support anti-Semitism, killing Jewish people, or any of the other things attributed to my speech. I have spent my life fighting these things.”

In an email to the Jewish Journal, the Anti-Defamation League called Hill’s comment divisive” and “destructive.” The Zionist Organization of America had also called for his firing from CNN and Temple.

The ZOA previously called for his firing after it emerged last month that a photo of Hill smiling with the anti-Semitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan was used to promote Farrakhan’s album.

Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com, or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher

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