The City University of New York, which has been accused extensively of antisemitism in the past few years, has hired a professor CNN fired in 2018 for an anti-Israel speech.
Marc Lamont Hill, who holds an endowed chair at Temple University in Philadelphia, is now a “presidential professor” of urban education at CUNY’s Graduate Center in Manhattan.
The Graduate Center describes Hill as a “radical educator” who “explores issues of race, education, citizenship and state violence in the United States and Middle East.”
The speech for which Hill was fired from CNN included the statement, “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.”
Although the latter phrase refers to violently erasing Israel from the map, Hill claimed on social media at the time, “My reference to ‘river to the sea’ was not a call to destroy anything or anyone.”
“I am calling on the CUNY board of trustees to not allow this dangerous hire to move forward that will leave CUNY’s Jewish students and staff feeling even less safe than they do now,” wrote Ari Kagan, a New York City Council member.
After meeting with Nation of Israel head Louis Farrakhan in 2016, Hill wrote on Instagram: “Been blessed to spend the last day with Minister Louis Farrakhan. An amazing time of learning, listening, laughing, and even head-nodding to music. God is Great.”
“CUNY hiring Marc Lamont Hill is so perfect. I don’t know how I didn’t see it coming,” wrote Seth Mandel, executive editor of the Washington Examiner magazine.
The Philadelphia Inquirer noted that Hill had “drawn criticism in the past over his comments about the Middle East,” and that Temple trustees condemned his comments about Israel in 2018, although they defended his right to free speech.
On May 12, a CUNY law-school student delivered an antisemitic commencement address. Earlier this year, CUNY was accused of retaliating against Jewish professors and for offering a hard-left definition of Jew-hatred as guidance for those reporting antisemitism.