Marc Lamont Hill, an Al Jazeera host and CUNY professor, criticized the media for “framing” Hamas as terrorists instead of acknowledging them as a government organization.
Hill believes that this framing hampers political and diplomatic solutions.
He clarified that he is not a supporter of Hamas but understands the consequences of isolating people politically. (Trending: Judge Declines To Recuse From Trump 2024 Ballot Case)
CUNY professor, ex-CNN contributor Marc Lamont Hill says Hamas a ‘government organization,’ not terrorists https://t.co/OMzecWwjCd pic.twitter.com/DytilIpqBE
— New York Post (@nypost) November 2, 2023
“I’m not convinced that they’re unwilling to talk to these other networks. It seems to me that other corporate media outlets have made the decision that they don’t want to be in conversation with them, and part of why is because they’ve decided to frame them as a terrorist network,” Hill said, arguing that the organization would be willing to appear on other networks.
“And when you have Netanyahu and others saying that they’re no different than… ISIS, then it becomes- you wouldn’t do an exclusive with ISIS on CNN so they’re not going to do one with Hamas,” Hill continued.
“And it’s part of a broader project, I think, of framing Hamas not as a government organization – even if you think that what happened on October 7 was an act of terrorism – by framing them as a terrorist organization rather than a government, rather than a democratically-elected government and/or political party, it makes it easy to avoid political and diplomatic solutions.”
Yes. I called for a ceasefire. That’s not an endorsement of Hamas. It’s a call for peace. And no, history really didn’t begin on October 7. We must actually study the full past to properly understand (and avoid repeating) what led to that awful event, and the resulting crisis. https://t.co/naHLIEc0Ia
— Marc Lamont Hill (@marclamonthill) November 2, 2023
Hill’s comments came after hosting a Hamas spokesperson on his show.
He also discussed the controversy surrounding his past statement calling for a “free Palestine from the river to the sea,” which led to his being fired from CNN in 2018.
Hill argued that this phrase is a call for justice and freedom, not a call to destroy Israel. (Trending: It’s Time For Donald Trump To Drop Out)
“The people who were critical of me would argue that I was echoing a specific chant from Hamas, who, when they were formed in 1987, were saying, ‘We don’t support a two-state solution.’ Right? ‘We’re a liberation organization, and we want all of historic Palestine to be returned to the Palestinian people,’ which was, frankly, the default position of the Arab world between 1948 and 1967, right, was that all of historic Palestine would be returned to Arabs,” Hill told Gray.
“When Hamas says… ‘from the river to the sea,’ for them, the argument is if they’re calling for all the land to come back then that has to mean all Jews are being pushed into the sea, that all Jews must be killed in order for this to happen. That’s their analysis of Hamas. Now … when I say, ‘Free Palestine from river to the sea,’ I wasn’t echoing the Hamas charter.”
“When you go to any ‘Free Palestine’ rally, when you go to a Palestinian rights rally, you’re going to hear ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,’ … these aren’t calls to kill Jews. These are calls for Palestine and Palestinians to have freedom, safety, dignity and self-determination in all areas of historic Palestine, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea,” he claimed.
“Why is it important to say that entire region? Well, because those in the West Bank need the occupation to end. Those in Gaza need the effective occupation to end. They need the siege to end as well,” Hill said.
“So, ‘from the river to the sea’ is a call for justice in all the regions of historic Palestine. It’s not a Hamas call,” Hill continued. “It would be like if you said ‘Black power,’ and somebody says, ‘Well, I can pull up the new Black Panther Party’s statements on, you know, killing White people’… and they say ‘Black power,’ and therefore Briahna is echoing a new Black Panther Party call.'”
“Most people I know who are calling for ‘the river to the sea’ are calling for, not the enforcement of Hamas’ charter… I haven’t met anybody who thinks that,” he added.
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