Crush Liberalism

CNN Mideast editor praises dead Hezbollah leader, loses job over it

Here’s what happened:

How did CNN senior editor of Middle East affairs Octavia Nasr celebrate July 4? By mourning the passing of Hezbollah’s Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah. Here’s what the CNN editor posted on her Twitter account:

Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah.. One of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot..#Lebanon

Fadlallah “famously justified suicide bombings,” as the New York Times recalls in its obituary for him:

In a 2002 interview with the British newspaper The Telegraph, he was quoted as saying of the Palestinians: “They have had their land stolen, their families killed, their homes destroyed, and the Israelis are using weapons, such as the F16 aircraft, which are meant only for major wars. There is no other way for the Palestinians to push back those mountains, apart from martyrdom operations.”

The Times also reports in its obit that Fadlallah is believed to be responsible for the killing of 241 U.S. Marines during the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings…

They should change the name of Twitter posts from “tweets” to “croaks”, because this one killed her job.  Jihadist sympathizers in the MSM hardest hit.  Details:

Mediaite reports that CNN has fired senior editor of Middle East affairs Octavia Nasr. As Daniel Halper pointed out the other day, Nasr wrote on Twitter on July 4 that she was “sad” to hear of the death of Hezbollah’s Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah–a man for whom she has “respect.” Fadlallah had justified suicide bombings, is believed to be responsible for the Marine barracks bombing, and had said that “Zionism has inflated the number of victims in this Holocaust beyond imagination.”

In a followup blog post last night, Nasr wrote that it “was an error of judgment for me to write such a simplistic comment and I’m sorry because it conveyed that I supported Fadlallah’s life’s work. That’s not the case at all.”

She explained that she knew about all the wicked aspects of Fadlallah’s life–saying she even “lost family members” in the barracks bombing–and was simply referring to the fact that she respected Fadlallah for his opposition to “honor” killings and beating women. But saying you respect Fadlallah for opposing murdering and beating (Muslim) women is almost like saying you respect Osama bin Laden for building day care centers.

CNN doesn’t think Nasr’s apology makes up for what she said. “We believe that her credibility in her position as senior editor for Middle Eastern affairs has been compromised going forward,” Nasr’s CNN superior Parisa Khosravi said in a statement.

While CNN is to be commended for recognizing that her credibility had been compromised “going forward”, they try arguing this with a straight face:

Despite her senior editor title, Ms. Nasr did not run CNN’s Middle East coverage, a spokesman said. She reported and provided analysis about the region for CNN’s networks.

As Ed points out:

So why didn’t they call her a “senior correspondent” or “senior analyst”?  In journalism, the title “editor” means something specific — someone who provides management of the news.

Yeah, I’m just sure that her Middle East reporting was objective and free from anti-Israeli sentiment!  For those of you on the left, that was sarcasm.

July 8, 2010 Posted by crushliberalism | anti-Semitism, CNN, media bias | 1 Comment