CNN's Octavia Nasr is leaving the network over a tweet in which she praised a late Hezbollah leader. Nasr, CNN's Senior Editor of Middle East affairs, mourned the passing of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, calling Fadlallah "One of Hezbollah's giants I respect a lot."
In an internal memo, CNN executive Parisa Khosravi discusses Nasr's abrupt exit:
From Parisa Khosravi - SVP CNN International Newsgathering: I had a conversation with Octavia this morning and I want to share with you that we have decided that she will be leaving the company.
As you know, her tweet over the weekend created a wide reaction. As she has stated in her blog on CNN.com, she fully accepts that she should not have made such a simplistic comment without any context whatsoever.
TVNL Comment: Fadlallah was respected and revered in Lebanon for many reasons. He gave many lectures, engaged in intense scholarship, wrote dozens of books, founded several Islamic religious schools, established a public library, a women's cultural center, and a medical clinic.
Accused of being the 'spiritual mentor' of Hezbollah, Fadlallah was the target of several assassination attempts, including the CIA's planting of a 440-pound car bomb in Beirut that killed 80 other people instead.
But no one is allowed to praise the work of anyone opposed to the policies of Israel. Helen Thomas redux.
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