An editor at CNN has resigned after a series of antisemitic comments he made resurfaced on Thursday.
BREAKING: CNN spokesperson tells the @JewishJournal that they have accepted the resignation of photo editor Mohammed Elshamy over his 2011 anti-Semitic tweets
— Aaron Bandler (@bandlersbanter) July 26, 2019
UPDATE: Mohammed Elshamy (@elshamyme) has resigned from CNN.https://t.co/PcHrLYfybp pic.twitter.com/pycQ5bNpgJ
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) July 26, 2019
CNN’s statement accepting the resignation of the editor makes clear the editor had worked at CNN for some time, and had made the antisemitic statements back in 2011.
The tweets from Mohammed Elshamy, a photo editor for CNN, first surfaced earlier on Thursday. They were until then still public on Elshamy’s Twitter account:
Whoa. What does @elshamyme mean by “shitty Jewish idiot” @CNNPR? pic.twitter.com/HjJOj1cn24
— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) July 25, 2019
Hey @CNNPR. How does someone like @elshamyme who tweets things like this get through the hiring process at CNN? Asking for some friends. pic.twitter.com/6NAjINmYhQ
— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) July 25, 2019
Hey @CNNPR. You should have @KFILE look into the social media activities of your employees. He might find things like this gem from CNN’s @elshamyme talking about “Jewish pigs” killed by Palestinian terrorists. pic.twitter.com/NwL2d78RME
— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) July 25, 2019
At first, CNN ignored Elshamy’s history of antisemitism:
This is @CNN. pic.twitter.com/d2xmGcodhc
— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) July 25, 2019
Flagging @elshamyme issue for you @mdornic. https://t.co/RhHUf2NelDhttps://t.co/mvzzjBgTckhttps://t.co/8uEIoqV1x3https://t.co/yEgvCPcFPf
— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) July 25, 2019
This seems bad. Will CNN disavow? https://t.co/5VM6z41TPK
— Mike Cernovich (@Cernovich) July 25, 2019
Hey @CNNPR. You should have @KFILE look into the social media activities of your employees. He might find things like this gem from CNN’s @elshamyme talking about “Jewish pigs” killed by Palestinian terrorists. pic.twitter.com/NwL2d78RME
— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) July 25, 2019
Then Elshamy hid his Twitter account from the public:
CNN photo editor mass deletes tweets after Cernovich begins finding “gems” like these. @ArthurSchwartz, has @jaketapper seen these? pic.twitter.com/WYBsGVYxNw
— Mike Cernovich (@Cernovich) July 25, 2019
Hey @CNNPR. Why did @elshamyme protect his twitter account? Because of his comments about “Jewish pigs” being killed by terrorists?
You got lots more just like him at CNN. pic.twitter.com/HeVbEJW6if
— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) July 25, 2019
It remains to be seen if CNN will be honest with its audience about this matter and any internal investigations into it. CNN has a history of covering up resignations of people involved in scandals in its organization. In 2017, three senior CNN officials resigned amid a fake news story on the Russia probe–and CNN has still not answered a series of questions about the matter and has not published, as is the ethical standard for organizations purporting to publish news content, its findings of the internal investigation into the publication of that fake news.
CNN spokespersons have not replied to requests for comment when asked who hired Elshamy, how these comments were not found during his hiring process when they were publicly available at that time, whether anyone else will be held accountable for the severe missteps in vetting of CNN staff, and whether CNN will be conducting a review of other staff for antisemitic comments or a review of CNN’s published content in which Elshamy had a role.
The CNN staff has also not answered whether such reviews, if done, will be in the interest of journalistic integrity made public for CNN’s audience to see.
CNN is moderating the Democrat presidential primary debates next week in Detroit, Michigan, on Tuesday and Wednesday evening. It is unclear if rising antisemitism on the left is a topic that CNN will address in questions to Democrat presidential candidates. At this stage, network spokespersons have not answered whether such rising antisemitism–as displayed by Democrat Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) in particular–is off-limits at the debate in the wake of the Elshamy resignation.
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