Tamara Qiblawi, a Lebanese-born journalist who has been working for CNN since 2015, has been forced to delete anti-Israeli posts that she wrote on social networks, i24NEWS reported on Sunday.
The decision follows revelations by the Jerusalem Post that Qiblawi attacked Israel online, writing that “the attacks in the West Bank and Tel Aviv are carried out because of the tension caused by the Israeli attacks”.
Qiblawi is currently a senior producer for the Middle East division for the London-based broadcasting station.
A source close to the case said that “Tamara’s social media history shows that she doubts her commitment to CNN’s editorial standards, especially when it comes to reporting on the Arab-Israeli conflict.”
In another message, written on Facebook on May 15, 2015, she describes the events surrounding the creation of the State of Israel as the Palestinian “Nakba”, and claims that “Lebanon has faced a deadly and unprecedented attack from Israel.”
Shortly before she started working at CNN, she had also corresponded with a friend, mentioning the hope of “ending the Zionist state” during the conversation.
In another post, she refers to the terrorist attack that occurred against the Charlie Hebdo magazine and the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket in Paris, writing that she is “not convinced” that Islamist terrorists perpetrated the attack. She complained of the “lack of critical consideration on the part of the parties with a manifest interest in incriminating Muslims.”
A CNN spokesperson told HonestReporting that Qiblawi’s work record was judged by the channel as “excellent and balanced” regarding the Middle East, and that the latter had “agreed to delete her messages.” Following the controversy, Qiblawi deleted her Facebook and Twitter accounts.
CNN has been involved in past controversy related to Israel.
This past November, CNN cut ties with a freelance producer after posts praising Hamas terrorism and expressing support for “#TeamHitler” were exposed.
In 2021, the network dropped Adeel Raja, a Pakistani journalist who worked as a freelance contributor with the network, shortly after he tweeted that “The world today needs a Hitler”.
