Once again past activity on social media has come back to bite a young professional. In this case, past tweets posted by a photo editor and writer working for CNN came to light. Thursday CNN accepted his resignation.
Mohammed Elshamy, an Egyptian-born photojournalist was hired by CNN in 2019. Tweets from 2011 show a pattern of anti-Semitic posts and even a justification for the act of murder against Jews. He referred to Jewish people and Egyptian police as “pigs”. Public outrage when Elshamy’s tweets were exposed was swift and strong. His call for the murder of several people along with a sign in a photo which read “My dream #egypt #pigs” is particularly disturbing. He claimed the murders could be justified by labeling it self-defense. He openly supported Hamas, an Iranian-backed Palestinian terrorist organization that seeks the destruction of Israel.
https://twitter.com/ArthurSchwartz/status/1154465573327331328
Elshamy referred to Jewish people as “pigs” and posted anti-Israel tweets on his official page. One tweet said that he was proud of the “army generation that liberated us from the zionist pigs” in 1973. The date written in this tweet refers to the The Yom Kippur War, when Egypt and Syria attacked Israel on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
Elshamy holds strong anti-police opinions, too, as seen in his tweets. It looks like he participated in protests in Cairo.
“I’m happy that I lived to the day that I threw rocks and redirected a tear gas against interior ministry pigs before I die,” one tweet read.
Another stated “I’m with clearing #tahrir from these pigs and killing them.” Tahrir Square is a major public town square in Cairo, Egypt.
A third reads “Why is my dad trying to persuade me in joining Police Academy??!! #pigs #felmeshmesh
His Twitter account is now a protected account, which means it is protected from the eyes of the general public. This is a common action when the public reacts unfavorably to social media activity. It shows cowardice.
https://twitter.com/ArthurSchwartz/status/1154470395665403905
It looks like @elshamyme needed a little time out. But the internet it forever… pic.twitter.com/EjWd6QKxFU
— Adir Krafman (@adirkrafman) July 26, 2019
In recent days, Elshamy covered the protests in Puerto Rico and CNN posted his photos on the media organization’s Instagram account.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0UGDYGjWH9/?utm_source=ig_embed
He was also a writer for the network and in July contributed to a story on Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
This isn’t the first time that CNN has been exposed for hiring anti-Semitic personnel. In 2018, contributor Marc Lamont Hill, a Temple University professor was fired after he called for an armed Palestinian “resistance” against Israel. He also used a known Hamas rallying cry calling for the destruction of the Jewish State during a speech at the United Nations.
During his remarks, Hill called for a free Palestine, “from the river to the sea,” a line which has been used repeatedly by Hamas leader Khaled Mash’al. The phrase was also used by the Palestinian Liberation Organization beginning with its founding in 1964, when it was still classified as a terror group.
It does raise the question – why does CNN continue to hire anti-Semites?
How do you not realize you hired someone who for years publicly pushed for the indiscriminate killing of Jews just because they were Jews? The media’s blind spot on antisemitism is horrifying. Also horrifying: that nothing ever changes and no effort is made to improve.
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) July 26, 2019
This is CNN’s statement upon Elshamy’s resignation.
“The network has accepted the resignation of a photo editor, who joined CNN earlier this year, after anti-Semitic statements he’d made in 2011 came to light,” said network spokesperson Matt Dornic. “CNN is committed to maintaining a workplace in which every employee feels safe, secure and free from discrimination regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation or religion.”
Maybe CNN’s “commitment” will now include a better screening of potential hires.
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