Temple University professor and political commentator Marc Lamont Hill praised Palestinian terrorist Fatima Bernawi after her death at the age of 83 on Friday morning.
“Just heard about the death of Fatima Bernawi,” said Hill, responding to a tweet by the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM). “She is a legend among Afro-Palestinians and a beloved daughter of Jerusalem. Much needs to be written about her life and struggle.”
Bernawi and other terrorists had attempted to bomb the Zion Cinema in downtown Jerusalem in October 1967. The explosive, left in a handbag, was found before detonation, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-affiliated NGO Samidoun said in a eulogy. She was arrested and served a decade in prison before being released in a prisoner swap.
Hill blessed her in another post. He also shared a tweet about Bernawi posted by an activist before later deleting it, according to analyst Eitan Fischberger, due to her radicalism. Fischberger said she had previously called for “all Israelis to die and expressed support for terrorists and terror groups.”
“The Palestinian revolutionary Fatima Bernawi passed away today at the age of 83,” wrote PYM. “She was the first Palestinian woman militant to be arrested by occupation forces. Bernawi’s contributions to the struggle are innumerable, and she will forever be revered by the Palestinian nation.” PYM has been involved in events celebrating PFLP terrorists.
“Just heard about the death of Fatima Bernawi. She is a legend among Afro-Palestinians and a beloved daughter of Jerusalem.”
Marc Lamont HillWho is Fatima Bernawi?
Samidoun said that in addition to being one of the first modern female Palestinian terrorists to be arrested by Israel, Bernawi “was one of the first women to plan an armed operation in Palestine.”
Bernawi, a former UNRWA nurse, was exiled to Lebanon as part of the prisoner deal, but later returned to Gaza. Affiliated with Fatah, she became the chief of the Palestinian Female Police Corps, according to Gulf News.
“Along with Dalal al-Mughrabi, Shadia Abu Ghazaleh, and Leila Khaled, Bernawi remained a symbol of Palestinian women’s steadfastness and commitment by all means to liberate their homeland from the river to the sea,” said Samidoun.
Marc Lamont Hill’s past support of political violence
Hill was fired from CNN in 2018 after saying that there needs to be “a free Palestine from the river to the sea.”
He also wrote that although peace is ideal, “we must not romanticize or fetishize it. We must promote nonviolence at every opportunity, but cannot endorse narrow politics that shames Palestinians for resisting, for refusing to do nothing in ethnic cleansing.”
Sara Rubenstein contributed to this report.