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Palestinian Activists, Israel-Supporters Clash As Pressure Builds To Fire Left-Wing Professor Marc Lamont Hill

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• The former CNN contributor and Temple University professor Marc Lamont Hill was fired from the network on Nov. 29 for comments he made about the Israel-Palestine conflict.
• Hill said Palestinians should be able to use violence to defend themselves against Israel and invoked the term “From the river to the sea.”
• Calls for Temple to terminate his teaching contract continue to grow, and supporters and protesters have clashed over what to do next as Hill maintains he’s not an anti-Semite.

Former CNN contributor Marc Lamont Hill is facing calls to resign from his Temple University professorship after comments he made about Israel and Palestine in a speech to the United Nations last month.

Hill, who teaches in the Media Studies and Production and Media & Communication departments, was fired from CNN on Nov. 29 for his remarks at the U.N. commemoration of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

Hill advocated the use of violence against Israel in the name of freedom and said the international community must recognize Palestine’s right to defend itself.

“Tactics otherwise divergent from Dr. King or Gandhi were equally important to preserving safety and attaining freedom,” Hill said during the speech. “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.”

“We must prioritize peace, but we must not romanticize or fetishize,” he continued. “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. Justice requires a Free Palestine from the River to the Sea.”

“From the river to the sea” has been used to refer to the violent replacement of Israel with Palestine.

The Anti-Defamation League and other groups called for a boycott following the speech, and he was fired from CNN 24 hours later.

“Marc Lamont Hill does not represent Temple Universityand his views are his own, a Temple University spokesperson previously told The Daily Caller. “However, we acknowledge that he has a constitutionally protected right to express his opinion as a private citizen.”

Despite these developments, tensions continue to rise on both sides as supporters and detractors make their case for the embattled professor.

An opinion piece in The Philadelphia Inquirer called for Temple to terminate Hill’s contract and said it’s the only way the school can restore it’s damaged reputation.