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CNN Pundit Defends Rashida Tlaib’s Use of Genocidal Hamas Motto

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David Sidman
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CNN Pundit Defends Rashida Tlaib’s Use of Genocidal Hamas Motto

Even when Rashida Tlaib quotes Hamas in calling for the total annihilation of Israel, CNN jumps to defend her.

Tlaib: “From the River to the Sea

Two weeks ago, Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), born in Detroit to Israeli Arab immigrants, retweeted a post promoting the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, an UN-organized event held on November 29. But her retweet contained the phrase, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

 

By retweeting this phrase, Tlaib is quoting Hamas in its call to eliminate Israel and exterminate Jews around the world. 

CNN Journalist: No Need for Jewish State

Peter Beinart, a journalist who wrote an article about how he does not believe in the Jewish state and another on how Hamas is “moderating”, responded to the furor generated by Tlaib’s tweet. Like Tlaib, Beinart advocates for eradicating the Jewish identity of Israel.

“@RashidaTlaib supports 1 state where Jews + Palestinians live equally, under the same law. Why is that less moral that the current 1 state: Where millions of Palestinians lack citizenship, due process, free movement + the right to vote for the govt that controls their lives?” Beinart tweeted.

 

He followed up by tweeting, “I get why many Jews find slogan ‘Palestine from River to Sea’ frightening. Some have used it to disregard Jewish rights (1st Hamas charter, for instance). But @RashidaTlaib has been clear that Jews + Palestinians deserve equality. Suggesting otherwise is a smear.”

Hamas: “From the River to the Sea”

It should be noted that despite Beinart’s understanding of the phrase, Hamas coined the phrase with the explicit meaning to eliminate Israel by annihilating all of the Jews. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Hamas official Halil Al-Hayya said in an interview in 2010:

“Palestine is Islamic, and not an Islamic emirate, from the river to the sea, that unites the Palestinians. Jews have no right in it, with the exception of those who lived on the land of Palestine before World War I.”

Similarly, Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri gave a televised address at a rally in Gaza, in 2005, saying:

“We have come here in multitudes to proclaim that Hirbiya and Ashkelon will be taken by the mujahideen. We have come here to say that the weapons of the resistance that you see here will remain, Allah willing, so that we can liberate Palestine – all of Palestine – from the Sea to the River, whether they like it or not.”

Responses to Beinart

Jerusalem Post journalist Seth Frantzman responded to Beinart, tweeting: 

Are there other cases where millions of people who live in a country are told by a US member of Congress that their state will be removed and forced into another country…say like ordering India and Pakistan together, or Kosovo back to be part of Serbian-led Yugoslavia?

 

Honest Reporting, a media watchdog focusing on coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict, was critical of Beinart’s defense of Tlaib, writing:

Beinart’s disingenuous defense of Tlaib flies in the face of the facts. Whatever the congresswoman’s position may or may not be, the slogan she promoted is one which openly calls for the replacement of Israel. The call is not one about national liberation, but of national annihilation masquerading as “justice,” and decades ago was being used by terror groups which abducted, tortured and murdered Israeli civilians.

Honest Reporting emphasized a glaring double standard regarding Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria:

When the Jordanians occupied the West Bank and Egypt took over Gaza between 1948 and 1967, there was no mass international movement to “free Palestine.” When the corruption-riddled Palestinian Authority subsequently came to power and inflicted great harm and often physical violence on the Palestinian population, those calling out for the end of Israel fell silent.

It is important to note that Lamont Hill used the offensive phrase at the Solidarity with the Palestinian People event at the UN last year, the ADL commented:

“Those calling for ‘from the river to the sea’ are calling for an end to the State of Israel.” It’s a shame that once again, this annual Palestinian event at the UN does not promote pathways to a future of peace & instead promotes divisiveness and hate.”

Hill was fired from CNN after this.

Beinart is ethnically Jewish and reportedly observes some of the Torah’s commandments.


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