CNN Commentator Marc Lamont Hill Calls for the Eradication of Israel Share Tweet

Editor's Note, December 3, 2018: Since this article was published CNN chose to fire Hill. According to Independent, Hill was fired on Thursday after he made comments about Israel which some critics are arguing echo the language of Hamas and other groups which seek to eradicate Israel.

CNN commentator Marc Lamont Hill spoke on Wednesday at the opening meeting of the United Nations commemoration of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People where he urged for the elimination of Israel.

Hill started his speech by noting, what he called, the blatant violations of human rights implemented by Israel against Palestinians.

He said, “This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Nakba.”

"The Israeli nation continues to restrict freedom," Hill asserted. "There are more than 60 Israel laws that deny citizenship rights to Palestinians just because they are not Jewish."

Hill said, “From housing to education, family reunification, it is clear that any freedoms naturally endowed to all human beings are actively being stripped away from Palestinians through Israeli statecraft.” He continued, “While human rights promises the right to life liberty and the security of person, Palestinians continue to live under the threat of random violence by Israeli military and Police. Disproportionate violence in the West Bank and Gaza, unprompted violence in the face of peaceful protest, and misdirected violence by an Israeli state that systematically fails to distinguish between civilians and combatants.”

Hill continued emphasizing a person’s right under the Universal Declaration for Human Rights to not be tortured. He then asserted that the Israeli criminal justice system has repeatedly violated that protection by subjecting Palestinians to unprecedented torture including placing them in solitary confinement. Hill said, “Palestinians continue to be physically and psychologically tortured by the Israeli criminal justice system, a term I can only use with irony."

Hill goes on to note the United States’ decision to move its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem noting that this was not a uniquely Donald Trump decision, but in fact, he was simply following through on legislation that was passed by Congress in 1995. According to the video of the conference, Hill also notes that this decision to move the embassy largely coincides with American policy.

He said, “As an American, I’m embarrassed that my tax dollars contribute to this reality. No American president has taken a principled stand for Palestinian rights. I’m saddened though not surprised that Trump has further emboldened Israel’s behavior.”

He added, "Donald Trump is not an exception to American policy, but a more rather he is a more transparent and aggressive iteration of it.”

According to Arutz Sheva, Hill then encouraged those in the international sphere to engage in boycotts, divestments, and sanctions against Israel until which point it allows a Palestinian State on the pre-1967 borders.

Hill ended his speech saying, “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.”

Photo courtesy: Getty Images/Bennett Raglin/Stringer

Video courtesy: The United Nations